RAINFALL records could be broken this month with storms and even floods being predicted.

However, the water companies insist that the expected downpours will not relieve the drought.

The Met Office says the stormy weather will continue to the end of this month in what could become one of the wettest Aprils on record.

Gales sweeping in from the Atlantic have already brought down trees and power lines in the West Country and disrupted ferry services around Falmouth.

The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for the South West, London, the South East, Wales and the West with flooding on roads and 60mph winds.

Storms are expected throughout the country and it is feared that windows could be broken half an inch thick.

The unsettled weather will last until the end of the week. Organisers of the London Marathon on Sunday are warning the 38,000 runners to prepare for a drenching.

Water companies said the wet weather would do little to relieve the drought. Though more than an inch of rain fell in some areas yesterday, householders were urged to persist with their economy measures. The Environment Agency says months of rain is needed to refill aquifers and reservoirs and at this time of year most of the rain evaporates or is taken by growing plants.

Most of the east of England is in drought, from the Humber to the Kent coast, and across the Midlands and the South West.

Seven water companies in the South and East have brought in hosepipe bans.

Another wet weather front is expected

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almost next week, bringing yet more rain and the prospect of one of the wettest Aprils on record, after the driest March for 59 years. With half of April gone, more than one and a half inches of rain has fallen, 60 per cent of what would normally be expected. The average rainfall for April is 2.7 ins.

The wettest April on record was in 2000 when 4.7ins fell and the 10th most rain fell in 1961 with 3.8 ins.

Even if it does not set a new record for rainfall, this April is certainly wetter than last year, the driest April on record, when just half an inch of rain fell.

It is also cooler than usual. The normal maximum average temperature for April is 13C (55F) in the South East. But over the next week it will be about 10C (50F).

In the North and Scotland, temperatures could fall to -2C (28.4F). Cairngorm ski resort is open as snow continues to fall on the high ground, though most of the other centres are closed.

Dave Britton, of the Met Office, said thundery downpours could cause localised flooding. The Environment Agency has already warned that flash floods could be worse than usual because the ground is so dry.

Nick Ellins, a drought liaison adviser for Water UK, urged people to carry on saving water. He said: “Even constant rain won’t do anything this summer.”