Heavy rain and high winds pummelled Britain today as forecasters warned that flooding would spread across the country.

The Environment Agency has flood warnings in place for the Midlands, the North of England and Wales and the Met Office has issued severe weather alerts for North West England, South West Scotland and the Lothian Borders.

England’s official Floodline service has received more than 7,000 calls from members of the public over the past 24 hours while in Scotland ministers were placed on emergency alert today.

The Lake District is bearing the brunt of the flooding so far with Cumbria worst hit. Cumbria County Council said 21 schools were forced to shut by flooding, among those closed were secondary schools in Coniston, Keswick, Cockermouth and Whitehaven.

Seathwaite in Cumbria recorded 173mm (6.8in) of rain in the 24 hours up to 11am today, while the nearby village of Shap experienced 40mm (1.6in) of rainfall in 12 hours.

The higher fells of Cumbria could see another 150mm (5.9in) of rain according to Bob Wilderspin, the Met Office chief forecaster.

“This spell of wet and windy weather comes hot on the heels of the storm last weekend,” he said.

“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.”

The Environment Agency has implemented 31 flood warnings and 62 less serious flood watches for England and Wales. North of the border 13 flood warnings were announced by the Scottish authority.

Scottish ministers activated the “resilience room” operation to monitor the floods and to co-ordinate communication between local authorities, emergency services, government agencies and Transport Scotland.

Flooding in Scotland has caused chaos for motorists, prompting road closures and accidents. Dumfries and Galloway police asked people to reconsider making journeys by car as standing water wreaked havoc with the traffic.

Forecasters warned that one-month’s rain could fall in just 36 hours with the downpour set to continue today in northern England, northwest Wales and western Scotland. In parts of western England and Wales winds could reach 70mph.

Rachel Vince, a forecaster with MeteoGroup UK, the weather division of the Press Association, said that affected areas would see sustained rainfall.

“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,” she said. “Unfortunately for those areas the rain isn’t expected to move very far today.”

It is forecast that between 15mm and 30mm (0.6in to 1.2in) of rain will fall over these parts of the country between 6am and 6pm.

Localised rainfall of 50mm (1.9in) is likely to be recorded in some areas, and could be even higher over the mountains.

The rain is expected to ease off tomorrow as it moves into southeast England.

Ms Vince said: “There will be some respite by tomorrow night — by the evening it looks like being dry across the whole of the UK.”

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 northwest 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 today in the northern Irish Sea which could cause an increased flood risk along the west coast from Aberystwyth northwards.

Yesterday roads were closed and householders warned their properties were at risk of flooding in towns across Lancashire, especially in areas near the River Irwell and River Calder.

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