England hit by floods

Cambridgeshire was badly hit by floods on Sunday

Torrential rain throughout the day has brought flooding to homes and roads in southern and eastern England, with warnings of more to come.

A number of roads have had to be closed in Essex and Cambridgeshire, while Kent has 11 areas on flood watch.

There have been hundreds of calls to rescue services in several counties, and some residents have been issued with sandbags.

Weather forecasters said more rain was expected over the next few days.

Flood risks

Essex flood warnings: Pant; Blackwater; Brain; Stour Brook; Mersea Island and the Dengie Peninsular.

Essex flood watches: Chelmer; Wid; Can; Crouch; Roach and Mardyke

Between 50mm and 60mm of rain fell in parts of Kent, Essex and Cambridgeshire on Sunday.

The Met Office said this was close to the normal rainfall for the whole of October.

Road closures

Fire and rescue service crews in Essex had to use inflatable boats to check on residents affected by flooding, after up to two inches of rain fell in some areas.

A number of roads have been closed in the county, including the A12 at Kelvedon and the A120 at Braintree, and traffic diverted.

The Environment Agency's regional flood watch manager in Essex, Jonathan Wortley, said: "The biggest problems for us are in the Braintree area where we had 60 to 70 millilitres of rain between 3am and 9am.

"There is a tremendous run-off of surface water especially from land, and a lot of that volume has caused flooding directly."

He said sandbags were being given to residents in the Braintree and Maldon areas.

He went on to issue flood warnings and watches in the north, centre and west of Essex.

Traffic for Stansted Airport had to queue on the M11 motorway as minor roads and the airport approach road were flooded.

Hundreds of people have called rescue services in Cambridge since early on Sunday morning, and a number of minor roads are blocked in the south of the county.

Sandbags

A Cambridgeshire police spokesman said: "We have a lot of surface water and many road closures, mostly on rural roads.

"Some houses are being sandbagged in the south of the county.

"Most of it is surface water not able to get off the roads and then going towards houses."

In the Haverhill area of west Suffolk the River Stour burst its banks and a number of homes are flooded, said a fire service spokesman.

Around 40mm (1.2ins) of rain fell in just four hours in some parts of Kent, putting 11 areas on flood watch, the Environment Agency said.

But while much of England was soaked on Sunday, Devon was dry and balmy with an unseasonally warm 17 degrees celsius.