Britain braces itself for more rain

Four people have already died in this week's floods and there were concerns the weather had claimed two more lives.

Baroness Young, chief executive of the Environment Agency which is responsible for the country's flood defences, defended her record. She rejected the charge that she had "manifestly failed" and should consider resignation following the devastating floods in Sheffield, Rotherham and the Midlands.

She told the powerful Commons Public Accounts Committee: "I am immensely proud of what we have achieved. If there is one major problem it is that there is much more we could do if we had adequate funding."

In Toll Bar near Doncaster, police and fire crews searched a swollen dyke after a worried member of the public phoned the emergency services saying she heard someone cry for help. Linda Booth, of Tilts Hill Farm said others had heard the voice, which sounded as if it was coming from the Ebeck, which flows behind the holding and joins the River Don a couple of miles upstream.

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said later the force had suspended its search after no-one was found but that it was still treating the report as genuine.

In Nottingham, police said they were trying to establish if the death of a man whose body was discovered on Monday by a member of the public floating in the River Leen was weather-related. A post-mortem examination is due to be carried out.

Earlier this week, Michael Barnett, 28, died when his foot became trapped in a swollen drain in Hessle near Hull. And in Sheffield 14-year-old Ryan Parry was swept to his death as well as a 68-year-old man who was overcome by the rising waters, possibly as he abandoned his car in the city. He was named as Peter Harding by South Yorkshire Police.

In Pershore, Worcestershire, police said a motorist who was swept to his death was a county court judge. Eric Dickinson, 68, who sat in county courts across the West Midlands for over 20 years, was found dead in his submerged car near Pershore on Tuesday evening. A search was launched after Mr Dickinson rang his wife during Monday's heavy rain to tell her his Volvo was being overwhelmed by floodwaters.

And it appeared that for rain-lashed Britain there is to be no let up. The Met Office has issued an early warning of severe weather, with further rain and showers forecast to sweep across parts of the UK later this week and through the weekend.