The leading British insurers are bracing themselves for a fresh round of flood claims amid widespread predictions that large parts of the UK will be hit by another bout of devastating rainfall this weekend.

The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning covering almost the whole of England and Wales.

It reckons that the risk of "extremely heavy rain" is greatest in central and eastern England today.

Up to 100mm (four inches) of rainfall could fall over a short period, it said.

Keith Groves, the head of forecasting at the Met Office, has described the impending downpour as "a major rainfall event".

Six UK regions have been highlighted as being at risk of incurring flood damage amid forecasts of thunderstorms and torrential rain.

Having lashed the South of England, the storms are expected to move northwards.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has already estimated that general insurers, such as Norwich Union and Lloyds TSB, will have to pay out a total of £1.5 billion in weather-related claims after the devastating floods of three weeks ago.

In the two weeks that followed, about 7,500 businesses and 27,000 households submitted household claims, the ABI said.

As well as flood damage, insured businesses can claim for interruptions to their smooth-running, including the cost of relocating to fresh premises.

If the weather damage over the weekend is as bad as feared, the total bill to insurers could surge way past £2 billion.

Eamonn Flanagan, of Shore Capital, said that the two sets of storms, in combination, are likely to be the costliest on record for the UK insurance industry.

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