RAINING CATS AND DOGS... HOW DENNIS SWEPT IN

■ Saturday: More than 230 easyJet flights in and out of the UK are cancelled, while several sporting fixtures are also called off.

■ Saturday, 5.41am: A distress call is received by Kent coastguard of a man over-board from a tanker off the coast. A body is found after a seven-hour search. In a separate incident, Kent Police are called at 12.15pm to reports that a body had been pulled from the sea in Herne Bay.

■ Saturday, noon: People are advised to evacuate homes in the Scottish Borders.

■ Saturday, 1pm: The Government will use “all means” available to help flood-hit communities, the Defence Secretary says, after the Army is sent in to help locals prepare for Storm Dennis. A deployment of 75 soldiers from the 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland, is supporting the Environment Agency’s efforts in Calderdale, which was badly hit by Storm Ciara. A further 70 reservists from the 4th Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, are sent to help wherever required.

■ Saturday: Emergency services rescue two people “just in the nick of time” after a car is swept from the road and pinned to a metal gate by floodwater near Newcastleton in the Scottish Borders.

■ Sunday, 5am: The village of Nantgarw, Rhondda Cynon Taff, near Cardiff, wakes up to major flooding. Emergency teams including firefighters and volunteers are called in to evacuate one street.

■ Sunday, 7am: The situation is said to be “life-threatening” in South Wales, where the Met Office issues a red warning due to heavy rainfall and flooding risk.

■ Sunday morning: Rail services are suspended across South Wales after tracks are submerged by rain, while the line between Derby and Long Eaton is closed. Flooding leads to the closure of the M54 westbound at Telford, along with the A616 at Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire and the A52 between Stragglethorpe and Gamston in the East Midlands.

■ Sunday, 10am: Dyfed-Powys Police say a man has fallen into the River Tawe at Ystradgynlais area, in south Wales. His body is found further along the river in the Trebanos area.

■ Sunday, 11am: There are 250 flood warnings, meaning immediate action is required, and 344 flood alerts warning people to be prepared, covering an area from Scotland’s River Tweed to west Cornwall.