500 homeowners in Wales told to evacuate after river breaks its banks - Telegraph.co.uk

"It will become increasingly drier in most places as we go through today, with just East Anglia and south east England holding on to the rain.

"By the end of the day most of the rain would have lifted but temperatures will feel noticeably colder this week, dropping to freezing overnight."

Three people died in flooding over the weekend. A 21-year-old woman was crushed by a falling tree and a 50-year-old man fell into a canal.

John McNair, a 77-year-old retired company director, also died after his 4x4 vehicle was wedged under a bridge in a swollen ford following heavy rain in Chew Stoke, Somerset.

A 70-year-old man who was up to his neck in water in a car had to be rescued by the police and was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving. Police officers were called to the car, which had become trapped under a railway bridge in Wymington, Beds, on Sunday morning. The man received medical treatment and was arrested afterwards.

More than 100,000 people who signed up to the Environment Agency's free Floodline Warnings Direct system have been contacted via telephone, letter or text message.

Fire and rescue services have received hundreds of calls to flood incidents, with the AA reporting hundreds more breakdowns as a result of the wet conditions.

The A1 was closed near Catterick yesterday due to flooding, with the M180, A19, A38, A66, and A64 also affected. Severe disruptions were reported on the railways, with landslips and heavy rain causing long delays and cancellations.

There were extensive closures on the CrossCountry, First Great Western and South West Trains networks in the South West, with passengers reporting delays of up to seven hours. Trains at Hartlepool, Doncaster, York, Dorking, Durham and Whitby were also affected.

Some residents kayaked down the streets of Malmesbury, Wilts, while some home owners in Williton, Somerset, sealed their homes from 2ft of encroaching water using Plasticine. The RSPCA has reported more than 500 calls from people worried about animals in danger since Thursday. Officers yesterday rescued a horse, sheep and a chihuahua from a cut-off farmhouse.

Residents in Broadway, Worcestershire, were being warned to boil their tap water amid fears that it could have been contaminated by floods and emergency supplies of bottled water were being distributed to more than 2,000 homes.

Leon Brown, a meteorologist at the Weather Channel, said temperatures would be down to 23F (-5C) on Friday with wintry hail showers and sleet along the East coast and a "dusting" of snow.

Environment Agency figures showed that 940 properties had been flooded since Wednesday. Flood defences have protected nearly 50,000 properties in England and Wales. The AA was ready to receive 15,000 call-outs yesterday compared with an average of 10,500 for Mondays. There had been 161 reports of cars ruined by floodwater by lunchtime.