A helicopter search is under way for a 17-year-old soldier who fell into a swollen river on the Yorkshire moors amid torrential rain that has caused chaos across much of the UK.

Three trainee soldiers slipped into Risedale Beck while out marching on Hipswell Moor at around 8.45am.

Two men have been pulled from the water, but rescue teams, police and soldiers are being hampered by poor visibility and driving rain as they search for the missing man.

The platoon was attempting to cross the river during a routine exercise when the soldiers were swept away.

Floodwaters are also high in Sutton Coldfield, in the West Midlands. Up to six feet of water has trapped 42 workers who had just finished their night shift.

The staff are safe but stranded on the first floor of the WH Smith & Sons’ factory after the nearby River Tame burst its banks. Fire services attempted a rescue operation but they were unable to reach the toolmakers.

“The factory itself is perfectly dry but we are still surrounded by water. We have still got power and nobody is going to starve,” said Dennis Rodway, the factory's manufacturing manager.

Heavy flooding elsewhere in the UK caused rush-hour chaos, forcing train operators to cancel services in the Midlands and leading to flood warnings across the country.

Virgin Trains gave warning that its services through the West Midlands were subject to disruption, with no service between Birmingham and Wolverhampton and Birmingham and Coventry. A Virgin Trains spokesman said: “Lines were blocked in a number of areas around the West Midlands, which caused disruption. Some lines have re-opened.”

Central Trains said all services between Birmingham and the East Midlands, Walsall and south Staffordshire had been suspended due to severe flooding, which was at its worst in the Water Orton area.

Network Rail produced a long list of regional disruptions to services caused by the weather in the Yorkshire region, with problems in areas including Bradford, Skipton and Barnsley.

The Environment Agency put flood warnings in place across the UK.

Meanwhile eight schools have been closed in Sheffield and one of the city’s nursing homes had to be evacuated. Roads across Sheffield and Rotherham were also experiencing problems with standing water and localised flooding.

A 14-year-old was rescued by a passer-by from a swollen beck in the Chapeltown area of Sheffield. “I waded in and dragged him out. He had hit his head on a bridge and had taken in a lot of dirty water but he was okay,” said Craig Stenton, 41.

Firefighters in South Yorkshire said they were inundated with almost 200 calls from flooded householders in the Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham areas after more than 24 hours of almost continuous downpours.

A spokeswoman said: “One caller just rang to say the water was now at the top step of his cellar. He was obviously concerned. We’ve had a very busy night across the area.”

The North Yorkshire fire service said it had received an “unprecedented number of calls” overnight, and the A59 at Blubberhouses, near Harrogate, was blocked after a landslip. Motorists are warned to stay away from the area.

Northern Ireland was hit by fresh flooding today, with roads submerged and the Cultra to Seahill railway closed. Ministers at Stormont have approved a £5 million emergency relief fund to deal with the severe flooding that followed torrential downpours across north Down this week.

A forecaster for MeteoGroup UK, the weather division of the Press Association, said the wettest place was Bingley, near Bradford in West Yorkshire, which was deluged with 2.8in (71mm) of rain in 24 hours.

The forecaster said the rainfall was widely variable, with London escaping much of the bad weather but Birmingham suffering “quite a dousing”.

Yesterday evening saw an arc of thunderstorms around Cambridgeshire and the West Midlands. The Midlands and Yorkshire were badly hit, as storms and showers merged into a prolonged period of rain, he said.

As the rain sweeps up the country today, it will be replaced by further showers and thunderstorms around Devon and Cornwall.

The weekend will also see widespread heavy showers, with the situation improving on Sunday, the forecaster said. The Met Office has issued heavy rain warnings for Northern Ireland, Wales, north west England, Yorkshire and Humber, Cambridgeshire and the West and East Midlands.

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