Swathes of northern England and East Anglia are braced for flooding as more torrential rain hits Britain.
Swathes of northern England and East Anglia are braced for flooding as more torrential rain hits Britain.
A month’s rain is predicted to fall over in the next 24 hours in some parts of the UK, and more than 80 flood alerts have been issued.
The Environment Agency has urged communities in East Anglia, the North East and North West to be prepared as two bands of very heavy rain move in across the UK.
The risk of flooding is expected to be the highest of the year, with properties and transport in some parts of the country likely to be hit, the agency said.
The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning - the second highest, and meaning "be prepared".
Up to 100mm of rain could fall in 36 hours during the downpours. The average UK rainfall for July is 69.9mm.
Craig Woolhouse, head of flood incident management at the Environment Agency, said: "We are expecting some very significant flooding in the coming days across large parts of the country and would strongly urge people to sign up to flood warnings, keep a close eye on the forecasts for their area and be prepared for flooding.
"We would also ask that people stay safe, by keeping out of dangerous floodwater and not attempting to walk or drive through it.
"The Environment Agency has already opened incident rooms and has teams out on the ground checking on flood defences and clearing any blockages in order to reduce the risk of flooding as much as possible."
Tony Waters, deputy chief forecaster at the Met Office, said: "We are expecting spells of very heavy and thundery rain across a wide area of the UK in the next few days, with worst affected spots likely to be in central and northern parts of the country.
"Rainfall totals could be 20-40mm widely across warning areas but some places could see around 100mm of rain through today and into tomorrow.
"Given the saturated ground from the record rainfall in June, this could cause significant disruption - including difficult driving conditions and flooding in some areas."
