Rivers across England and Wales continued to rise to dangerous levels into the early hours of this morning as heavy rain fell on southern England and Wales causing millions of pounds worth of damage to hundreds of homes and businesses.
The Environment Agency warned of worse weather to come as forecasters said it was likely that more than an inch of rain would fall over the next 24 hours.
In one of the worst-hit areas yesterday more than 150 businesses were flooded and 100 people were evacuated from the city of York as the River Ouse, which had risen 15 feet above normal, threatened to burst its banks after the heaviest rainfall in the area in a century. At one stage, there were reports of raw sewage flowing down a street in the centre of York after a local sewage plant was overwhelmed by rainwater. The water also threatened to flood Bishopthorpe Palace, the residence of the Archbishop of York.
The heavy rain falling for most of the day across northern England and parts of southern England prompted the Environment Agency to issue 33 severe flood warnings, although that number was later reduced to 24.
Rivers in Shrewsbury, Worcestershire and Kent rose throughout the day with hundreds of people forced to abandon their homes after water overwhelmed flood defences. In Kent, 20,000 people were asked to conserve water after high winds and heavy rain cut off electricity supplies to several key pumping stations. Hundreds of residents were told to boil their water after bacteria contaminated local supplies.
And there was more misery as delays on the railways continued with many trains operating a reduced service due to the speed restrictions imposed by Railtrack.