Snow and rain bring more chaos

Up to 3,000 homes in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire were left without electricity after a band of snow stretched from south Wales into the Midlands.

And the weather brought chaos to schools, with almost 200 closing. More than 70 closed in Northamptonshire; 52 in Gloucestershire followed because of roads covered in ice and sludge, and more than 70 shut their doors in south-east Wales.

Travellers also found their plans in turmoil with planes and trains cancelled and roads closed across the south west.

But MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said the worst was over for now although it would remain cold and frosty.

Councils are nevertheless preparing in case of a return of last week's snow storms, with a salt ship due to arrive in the UK from Germany to replace stocks of salt used up gritting the country's roads.

New problems were caused by the heavy rain which combined with melting snow from last week's record downfall. Fire brigades were swamped with emergency calls and travel plans were thrown into chaos as flights and trains were cancelled and roads shut.

In Essex, thaws, rain and high tides caused river levels to rise, leading to misery in parts of the county. Firefighters helped evacuate several pensioners from bungalows in Clacton and 12 people were told to leave their homes in Steeple Bumpstead.

Environment Agency officials issued severe flood warning for the rivers Chelmer and Can and Essex County Council said it had filled more than 1,500 sandbags to help fight floods.

Some areas of the South West recorded close to their monthly average rainfall for February in just 24 hours. Such was the threat across the South West that the agency issued more than 100 flood warnings and almost 200 flood watches.