Hundreds of people were trapped in flooded offices and shops in Sheffield last night as the RAF airlifted stranded workers and makeshift centres were set up across the city.

A huge search and rescue operation involved three RAF helicopters which were scrambled to sweep Brightside Lane and the surrounding areas after wit-nesses reported floating cars and raw sewage.

As the RAF worked through the night with infra-red equipment, police confirmed that hundreds of people had been evacuated from badly-hit areas. In northwest Sheffield 35,000 people were without electricity after a sub-station was under 5ft (1.5m) of water.

Greg Wood was stuck with about 200 colleagues on the first-floor canteen of the Royal Mail distribution centre. He told Sky News: “We can’t get out because of the amount of water. There’s several feet of water, it’s contaminated with sewage and everything.”

William Oliver, an office worker, said: “Cars were floating down the road as it became a river. Dodging the flotsam and jetsam was quite something.”

Phil Davies, who was trapped on the upper floors of an office building in Brightside Lane, said the road had become a “tributary of the River Don”.

He said: “Retaining walls are collapsing, several have come down and some of these walls are 100 years old. There are car bonnets submerged. There’s no way of getting out. It’s like a flood plain.”

Elsewhere, hundreds of people had to be moved from their homes in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Devon, Humberside, South Yorkshire and Gloucestershire. Scores of schools had to be closed amid travel chaos and the risk of nearby rivers bursting their banks.

In Hull, roads and homes remained flooded overnight despite an easing off of the rain, which had been torrential for much of the day.

Several of the towns and villages surrounding Hull were suffering varying degrees of flooding. Withernsea, Hornsea and Market Weighton were among the places understood to be badly affected. In Beverley, some houses were flooded up to the letter box, with youngsters in inflatables offering to help householders salvage possessions. A 9-year-old boy was saved from the swollen River Lud in Louth, Lincolnshire, one of the worst-affected regions, when a man risked his own life to save him.

Schools in Louth and other parts of Lincolnshire had been closed for the day and several properties in the town were flooded. Emergency services were so stretched at times yesterday that they put out appeals for the public to call them only in emergencies.

Rail services were badly disrupted with several lines closed down entirely and widespread delays experienced in many other places.

At the peak of the rain there were ten severe flood warnings issued by the Environment Agency, as rivers and canals threatened to burst their banks, and almost 180 lesser alerts.

In Leeds 20 houses were flooded and residents were offered shelter in a leisure centre until the threat to their properties could be assessed.

Hospitals were disrupted, many staff finding it difficult to get to work. Some patients had trouble returning home.

There were warnings that the worst may not yet be over. It will be drier for a few days but a depression from the Atlantic is expected to bring a fresh band of heavy rain at the end of the week.

Helen Chivers, of the Met Office, said that even when it was considered that June was notorious for stormy weather interrupting the sunshine, the day was exceptional. She said: “It’s not been like June at all.”

At the Environment Agency there were concerns about more rain from Friday because with the ground saturated and rivers full there is the risk of extensive flooding.

In London the opening day of the Wimbledon tennis championship was disrupted by rain. In Scotland an unseasonal chill meant that few places reached more than 10C (50F).

A helicopter carrying Dame Shirley Bassey home from the Glastonbury festival on Sunday evening was forced to make an emergency landing in Surrey.