As storms flood in
northern, central, south eastern and eastern England.
Heavy rain caused flooding and disrupted traffic in Exmouth, Devon. The force of water rushing through Littleham Brook, near Exmouth, swept away part of two back gardens.
After more than two inches of rain fell in just 18 hours in Devon, the Environment Agency put parts of the Rivers Yealm, Axe and Burton on the highest grade flood warning, meaning they pose a “danger to life”.
In Yealmpton in Devon, homes were under 6ft of water. Tony Stearn, whose house backs on to the Yealm, said that in 26 years he had never seen anything like the flooding.
The 61-year-old retail business manager said: “About 7.45 this morning we had a phone call from one of our neighbours asking if everything was OK here.
“We were still in bed and had no idea there were any problems, and they said, ‘You’d better have a look out of your window’.
“The garden was completely under water.
“We were fairly fortunate as we are actually a bit raised up here, so luckily we were within about six inches of the house actually getting flooded.
“The river is normally only about 18ins deep at this time of year.”
Up to 60 members of the emergency services from fire, ambulance, police and the Dartmoor rescue group spent the day helping victims.
Sergeant Mike Rose, of Devon and Cornwall Police said: “The river water had risen by a couple of yards beyond its normal level and there is something like 40 houses affected in the locality and about 75 people affected in those houses.
“Some of the homes have got up to five or six feet of water in them, others three to four feet, but they are all two-storey houses and the occupants have moved to the upstairs and are happy to stay where they are for the moment.”
In nearby Yealmbridge flooding left water marks 6ft up the walls of houses and firefighters were pumping water from around them. Earlier they rescued some residents from flooded homes.
The Tarmac on roads in the small hamlet has been pulled up due to the weight of water that cascaded down it.
Fourteen-year-old Mia Leech, who was helping her mother outside their home, said: “My dad woke us up this morning to tell us all to come down just to help bring all the stuff upstairs because he was downstairs with my little brother and he just saw all the water coming through.
“By the time we got half the stuff upstairs the water was at the top of our cars and up four of our stairs.
“So when my dad went down, I think he had to get letters or something, he was climbing on the table and going from one floating thing to another..”
Outside, the two family cars, covered with mud and oil, were floating in the floodwaters.
John Coates, from nearby Aveton Gifford, said in his village several cars had been swept away from a low-lying car park.
In Dorset, fire crews attended more than 60 “flooding or water related incidents”.
In Burton Bradstock, west Dorset, waters flooded the main B3157 Common Road after the River Bride burst its banks and abandoned cars could be seen swamped in the forecourt of the local petrol station.
Dorset Police said there had been a number of mudslides in the Lyme Regis area, making cliff faces very unstable.
HIGH WATER NOTE: Louise Bell, 17, from Glasgow, at T In The Park in Kinross
FULL TANK: A car at a Burton Bradstock garage
WASHED AWAY: Flood damage to a garden near Exmouth