Heavy rain and floods caused severe disruption to rail and road journeys on Monday as millions of people struggled to reach home before Christmas.
Although the weather is expected to improve for Christmas Day, the Met Office issued amber warnings for the South West of England while the Environment Agency sent over 112,000 warnings to people at risk of flooding as bands of heavy rain move across the country.
Forecasters have warned of heightened flood risk in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset with strong gale force southwesterly winds expected to bring more spells of heavy rain.
Worcestershire was one of the worst-hit counties while a landslip was reported from Newton Abbot in Devon.
The wettest place in the UK since the downpour began was Tyndrum in Perthshire with 6.1in (155mm).
“Following a very wet and windy few days, we expect brighter skies for many on Christmas Day — although there will be some heavy showers around,” Tim Hewson, Met Office Chief Forecaster, said.
“We will continue to see spells of heavy rain through the rest of the week and this will fall onto already waterlogged ground in many areas, bringing the continuing risk of localised flooding,” he added.
Temporary barriers have been erected at Ironbridge, Bewdley, Shrewsbury and Oxford and mobile pumping equipment is in place in Devon, Humberside and on the Derwent to tackle rising river levels.
Teams from the Environment Agency were also working to shore up defences, clear blockages from watercourses and pump out flood water from towns.
John Curtin, Head of Incident Management at the Environment Agency, said: “Although the rain is set to ease a little in the coming days, the ground is still very wet and river levels remain high, so we would ask people to keep up to date with the latest warnings and stay prepared for flooding.”
Latest figures show that around 470 properties have flooded since last week although flood defences were able to protect 21,000 homes.
Floods cause disruption in build-up to Christmas
