Rain batters Britain, with more forecast

Heavy rain battered parts of Britain overnight as householders were warned of a high risk of flooding yesterday.

Worst hit was the village of Shap in Cumbria, which experienced 40mm of rainfall in 12 hours.

Forecasters warned there was more to come, with the downpour set to continue in northern England, north-west Wales and western Scotland.

In parts of western England and Wales winds are expected to gust at up to 70mph.

At 9.55a.m. the Environment Agency had 31 flood warnings and 62 less serious flood watches in place for England and Wales, with Cumbria predicted to be particularly badly hit.

A spokesman for the agency said six properties in Cumbria and three in north-west Wales had been flooded as of 10a.m.

Rachel Vince, a forecaster with MeteoGroup UK, the weather divi-sion of the Press Association, said Cumbria bore the brunt of the rain. As well as Shap, 30mm of rain fell in Keswick between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. yesterday morning.

Ms Vince said: "It's fairly widespread and heavy rain. Across much of western Scotland, the Lake District and a lot of the Republic of Ireland, there was over 10mm of rain in a 12-hour period overnight.

"Unfortunately for those areas the rain isn't expected to move very far..."

Forecasters are predicting that between 15 and 30mm of rain will fall over these parts of the country.

Localised rainfall of 50mm is likely to be recorded in some areas, and could be even higher over the mountains.

The Environment Agency advised people to check on the elderly, move valuable items to safety and be prepared to switch off gas and electricity supplies.

A spokesman said: "Due to recent heavy rain and the current weather forecast, we are expecting flooding to property in the north-west of England, particularly Cumbria. Environment Agency teams are working around the clock, monitoring river levels and are out on the ground checking flood defences and clearing debris from rivers.

The spokesman also warned of a tidal surge in the northern Irish Sea which could cause an increased flood risk along the west coast from Aberystwyth northwards.

In Cumbria 21 schools were forced to close yesterday because of localised flooding, Cumbria County Council said.

Among those closed were secondary schools in Coniston, Keswick, Cockermouth and Whitehaven.

The Met Office said Seathwaite in Cumbria recorded 173mm of rain in the 24 hours up to 11am yesterday.

Over the same period 71.6mm of rain fell on Shap, 64.2mm on Keswick and 57.8mm on Esk-dalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway. An extra 75-100mm of rain is expected over parts of Cumbria, western parts of Scotland and north Wales by midday today, the Met Office said.

The higher fells of Cumbria could experience another 150mm of rain.

Met Office chief forecaster Bob Wilderspin said: "This spell of wet and windy weather comes hot on the heels of the storm last weekend. The rain will fall on areas that are already saturated and we are working closely with agencies, local authorities and emergency services to ensure they are prepared."

After a brief respite today, gales and heavy rain are predicted to return tomorrow. The Environment Agency said the towns of Cockermouth, Kendal and Keswick in Cumbria were of most concern.

Its Floodline service has received more than 7,000 calls from members of the public over the last 24 hours.

Officials worked through the night in Carlisle in Cumbria to put up temporary flood defences for 400 properties, although the Environ-ment Agency admitted that pockets of the city were still at risk.