Communities count cost of deluge

Flood-hit communities across the UK are counting the cost of torrential downpours that left homes under water and one man dead.

The worst of the weather, in which a month's worth of rain pelted parts of the country in just 24 hours, is now thought to be over.

But forecasters say that rain will continue to fall in heavy bursts across the whole country for at least another week.

Devon was worst hit on Saturday as three severe flood warnings were issued, while a man was killed in Northumberland when his car crashed off a rain-soaked road.

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman is due to visit the Met Office in Exeter for a briefing.

A severe flood warning from the Environment Agency remains in place for Axminster in Devon around the River Axe, and there are also 41 flood warnings and 133 flood alerts.

The west of England will receive some respite from the weather today, welcome relief for flooded communities in the south west.

But the bad weather is set to continue throughout the week as an area of low pressure moving in from the west brings showers and longer spells of rain.

Billy Payne, a forecaster for Meteogroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "The worst of the showers today are going to be across East Anglia, Lincolnshire and the South East, with longer spells of rain mixed in there as well.

"There will also be outbreaks of rain for northern and western Scotland and Northern Ireland as well."