Autumn storm wreaks havoc

People were evacuated from their homes and rescued from their cars, and the promise of further deluges has raised the prospect of extensive flooding.

The number of flood warnings issued by the Environment Agency rose steadily throughout the day and it warned that the threat of flooding was likely to increase as rainwater drained into river systems.

Wales and South-west England bore the brunt of the deluge, with heavy and persistent rainfall causing localised flooding. The deluge followed persistent rainfall in many parts of the UK on Thursday night. Parts of south Wales were expected to receive more than two inches of rain.

Severe weather warnings are in place across large swathes of the UK with the heavy rain expected to drift north. Last year flooding crippled parts of central and northern England.

Emergency services, who have been working around the clock, have been inundated with calls as roads flooded and people were trapped in their cars. The AA reported a higher than normal number of breakdowns as cars ran into trouble after trying to drive through floodwater.

The Environment Agency has 63 flood watches and 25 flood warnings in place, mainly in Wales. Two severe flood warnings have been issued, the first near the town of Tredegar, Caerphilly, and the second in Aberfan near Merthyr Tydfil.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: "The threat of flooding is likely to increase, we cannot say how serious it might be until the rain has stopped falling."

Parts of the UK experienced gale-force winds, with gusts of more than 60mph recorded at headlands near Torbay in Devon this morning.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings across large swathes of the country, including all of Wales, south west England, the north west, the West Midlands and parts of Northern Ireland.