£10m pledged but floods 'not over'

He said water levels had peaked in the River Severn, which has caused severe flooding in Gloucestershire, but added there was a possibility of further heavy rain to come.

And he told MPs that water levels in the Thames were still causing concern and flooding of towns along its banks may be "unavoidable".

Mr Benn, making his second Commons statement on the emergency this week, said the extra £10 million will supplement the existing £14 million flood recovery grant fund.

For Tories, Peter Ainsworth welcomed the additional money but added: "In truth, in the greater scope it doesn't look like it's going to go very far."

Updating MPs on the situation, Mr Benn said the emergency Cobra committee had met on Monday and on Tuesday morning to discuss the response to the flooding. He praised the "heroic" efforts of the Environment Agency and emergency services which had protected the Walham electricity sub-station, securing power for some 500,000 homes in Gloucestershire.

But hundreds of homes remain without electricity in Tewkesbury, Gloucester and Cheltenham, he said.

Mr Benn said: "This emergency is still not over and the River Thames continues to cause concern. There was further flooding in Abingdon last night but no additional flooding in the rest of Oxfordshire is now expected. There will, however, be peak flows during the next 24 to 36 hours further down the river and flooding in Henley, Reading and other riverside properties to Marlow and Windsor may be unavoidable."

An evacuation centre is being prepared in Reading should the rising waters force people from their homes. Mr Benn said the main priority now was distributing water to the 140,000 properties without mains supplies following the flooding of the Mythe plant in Tewkesbury.

He said Severn Trent Water had already set up 500 bowsers, rising to 900 by Wednesday, which are being supplied by a fleet of 80 tankers. Mr Benn added that three million litres-a-day of bottled water were also being given out to vulnerable people. He said it could be "some days" before supplies are restored but work on the Mythe water treatment plant would start as soon as possible.