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TORRENTIAL rain and 65mph winds are set to batter Britain this weekend and bring further misery to vast areas already hit by floods.
England has had 141 per cent of its average February rainfall in the first three weeks of the month, experts said.
But a third weekend of damaging downpours and strong winds is due, bringing fears of flooding spreading.
Dave Throup, the Environment Agency’s manager for England’s worst-affected counties – Herefordshire and Worcestershire – said worse is to come.
He added: “It’s getting scary. What I’ve seen over the last few days isn’t normal. It’s going to get worse. We need to adapt and respond.”
Scotland and northern England are set to see 65mph wind gusts today, with heavy showers of rain, hail, sleet and snow.
The Met Office’s Greg Dewhurst said: “It is never-ending. There is no sign of things calming down any time soon. It has been a few years since we had such wet and windy weather. I guess it was inevitable that it would return.”
Last night there were two severe flood warnings, meaning an immediate risk to life, 66 flood warnings and 145 flood alerts across England – and one flood warning and three flood alerts inWales.
River levels have already exceeded existing records on the Colne, Ribble, Calder, Aire, Trent, Severn, Wye, Lugg and Derwent.
In Scotland yesterday cars were left submerged after floods hit Pailsey and other parts of Renfrewshire.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency last night had 12 flood alerts and 24 flood warnings in place.
Caroline Douglass, the Environment Agency’s director of incident management, said: “Flooding has a long-lasting and