Flood misery is set to continue in southern England this weekend with heavy rain predicted to douse the areas where authorities are already struggling to cope with flood damage.

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for tomorrow night and Sunday morning. Nine-hour spells of rain are expected to spread from South Wales across southern England, filling the already swollen Severn and Thames.

The rainstorms are unlikely to rival the heaviest downpours seen in the past month, but, with the ground saturated in the worst affected areas, more flooding is expected.

Hundreds of thousands of people have already been affected by water and electricity shortages as the UK was overcome by heavy rains in the wettest start to a British summer since records began.

The rain is expected to arrive in flood-stricken Gloucestershire late tomorrow, one day after the mayor of Gloucester launched an appeal to help fund those worst hit by the floodwaters.

“As you will all know Gloucestershire has faced the worst peacetime crisis in the UK in living memory. The people need our help and if you do support this fund it will help get life back to normal for people,” said Harjit Gill.

Thousands of homes across Gloucestershire are still without drinkable tap water and queues for fresh water have yet to subside. More than 1,000 bowsers, emergency water tanks, have been drafted into the county, but most stand empty for the majority of the day.

Parmjit Dhanda, MP for Gloucester, said bottled water may soon be dropped on street corners, as well as at supermarkets, to ease the desperation for drinking water, which has seen the police called in to guard the limited supplies.

Mr Dhanda insisted the police would also be active in protecting the bowsers after acts of vandalism left taps broken and supplies wasted.

“The bowser situation has been horrifically difficult. . . If anybody is caught vandalising or interfering with the bowsers then we must ensure that they feel the strong arm of the law,” said the MP. “It is an outrageous thing to do at a time of crisis when everyone else is pulling together.”

The heaviest of this weekend’s rain is expected to fall on the Welsh hills and the border regions, near the river Severn. Persistent rain is expected to dump 40mm of water onto already saturated fields and hills.

In these conditions the water will run straight into the bulging river, which has already caused chaos in Gloucester and Tewkesbury.

The rain may ease slightly by the time it reaches the Thames, but the Environment Agency still has nine flood warnings in place for the river, leaving the banks vulnerable to any additional rainfall.

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