With 300 flood warnings and 300 flood alerts in place across England and Wales and two flood alerts in Scotland, Britain remains on tenterhooks as gales and torrential rains head towards north-east England, after wrecking havoc in south-east England over the weekend.

816 homes were flooded in south-west England over the weekend, as confirmed by the Environmental Agency. Two people have been killed due to the storm - a woman succumbed to her death when a tree fell on her in Exeter and a 70-year-old man died when his car crashed into a swollen river in Cambridgeshire. Devon and Cornwall were particularly badly hit by the gale storms, along with Malmesbury in Wiltshire and Kempsey in Worcestershire.

County Durham, Teesside, North Yorkshire and the Conwy area of north Wales are expected to be worst affected. People were left stranded in their homes in Newlyn in Cornwall, while roads in Bovey Tracey in Devon were turned into rivers as water poured down them.

Severe flood warnings were issued by the Environment Agency in Lostwithiel, Helston, Polperro and Perranporth, where rivers were threatening to burst their banks. Travelling on road became impossible as flooding blocked routes including M5 and M50.

At Kempsey in Worcestershire, new £1.5m water pumps, which were designed to protect the village against flooding of the river Severn, failed at around 5am yesterday. Historic town of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, was flooded by river Avon, which forced residents out of their homes.

National Rail announced that train lines would remain closed between Exeter St Davids, Tiverton Parkway and Yeovil Junction today. Passengers have been warned not to travel between south-west England and London by First Great Western.

In Plymouth, Devon, around 60 people were evacuated due to safety concerns in a dozen locations and there were numerous reports of people being stuck in their cars. A large landslide caused by heavy rain in Old Sodbury near Chipping Sodbury in Gloucestershire led many homes to be evacuated.

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