Up-to-date flood warnings | Predicted rainfalls across UK

Storms killed five people and left a trail of devastation as they swept north through Britain yesterday.

Hundreds had to be rescued from flooded homes or abandoned cars. Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Durham and Tyneside were expecting up to 3in of rain in a day.

Some areas had a month’s rainfall in 24 hours, and officials issued 90 flood warnings – five of them severe.

A 17-year-old girl from Thamesmead, in London, died when the 4x4 vehicle she was in overturned and plunged into a swollen river in Powys, mid-Wales, on Friday evening.

The Land Rover Discovery was part of a convoy of off-road enthusiasts attempting to cross a ford near the Llyn Brianne reservoir, but it was swept downstream by flood water.

The driver and front-seat passenger managed to escape, but the teenager was trapped in the back. Eventually, the vehicle was towed on to land, where two off-duty paramedics who were on the trip attempted to administer first aid.

The group could not get a mobile phone signal because of the remoteness of the area, so one of the party had to drive for 30 minutes before finding help at a farmhouse.

The girl was airlifted to Bronglais hospital, in Aberystwyth, but died shortly after arriving. The other people in the Land Rover were treated for hypothermia.

In Stroud, Gloucestershire, emergency services were yesterday trying to recover the body of a workman killed in a mud-slide after a trench collapsed in torrential rain. The 27-year-old was buried under the mud and police declared him dead at the scene.

The weather was also blamed for causing a car accident in which a young couple were killed. Barry Rowe, 29, and Rebecca Hoynes, 30, died after their Subaru estate hit a grass bank and careered off the road in Plymouth, Devon, in heavy rain on Friday.

In the northeast, a 42-year-old motorcyclist from Sheffield died after hitting a tree branch on the A66 near Darlington.

The Met Office said it expected the rain to ease by 9pm yesterday. Light showers have been forecast for today, but the Environment Agency warned that flooding could continue until the middle of the week.

David Rooke, head of flood risk management at the agency, said: “After a wet summer the ground is already saturated, and as a result the rivers and streams are responding very quickly to small amounts of rain. We expect flooding to continue until the middle of next week.”

Four of the Environment Agency’s five severe flood warnings were in Morpeth, Northumberland, where about 50 homes had to be evacuated as the River Wansbeck overflowed its banks.

West Mercia Police also reported flooding in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution sent two rescue teams to North Yorkshire to help victims of flooding, including four lifeboats. “We are not sure what to expect but we are on hand to help out in any way,” a spokesman said.

In Pickering, North Yorkshire, several properties and roads were flooded after a brook burst its banks. Fire crews were on hand to pump out houses and residents were told to move property upstairs.

In Worcestershire, parts of Tenbury Wells town centre were evacuated and a refuge centre opened after the Kyre Brook broke its banks. A family of five escaped from a car trapped in 3ft of water near the town.

Yesterday’s race meeting, at Haydock Park, Merseyside, was abandoned after nearly 1½in of rain. Within a few hours, race meetings at Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire; Gosforth Park, Newcastle; Leopardstown, Dublin; and Worcester, Worcestershire, followed suit.

Other events have also been disrupted. Gloucestershire’s biggest agricultural show of the year was cancelled after days of torrential rain.

Organisers of Moreton-in-Marsh country show, due to take place today, decided after an 11th-hour inspection of the ground that it was too water-logged for the event to go ahead.

The Environment Agency said it did not expect the floods to be as severe as those of July last year, when 50,000 properties were left awash.