In Tewkesbury, Reverend Canon Nick Davies, the vicar of the 12th-century abbey which famously stays dry when the rest of the town is submerged, said that the floods were worse than the disastrous weather which swept Gloucestershire in 2007.
He told The Telegraph: “At the moment there is only one way in and out. People are saying these are the worst floods since 2007. Some have water coming in from the rivers, other people have got it coming up through the floor.
“At the abbey, we are an arc in the middle of the flood and my job is to be there for the community.”
Revd Canon Davies added that he became vicar in September but had “got a sense of perspective” compared to the town’s regular floods from residents who were able to compare where the water had reached on their roads.
“Tewkesbury is a resilient place, people are pulling together, people will pick themselves up, we’ve been through this before.
“All of Tewkesbury is taking it one day at a time, we wake up, we check the flood warning and we take it from there.”
Two flood warnings in Tewkesbury remained in place on Thursday night alongside more than 500 alerts in place across the country as more heavy rainfall was expected in southern England overnight.
Warnings of more flooding and travel disruption
A yellow weather warning is in place across all of southern England, East Anglia and parts of the Midlands until 3am on Friday, with the Met Office predicting there could be “further flooding and travel disruption”.
Nottinghamshire County Council said it was declaring a major incident due to rising levels along the river Trent which it said could “come close to the highest levels on record from the year 2000”. Among the areas in the county affected was Radcliffe-on-Trent where residents said it was the worst flooding for two decades.
Laurie Walker, chairman of Radcliffe Park Residents’ Association, an estate for the over-55s where about six homes were evacuated, described the flooding as “like a river outside their front doors”.
“Some were evacuated last night. There’s one gentleman who is quite poorly and during the previous flood he had to be airlifted out and put in a local home.
“I’ve had someone knock on my door to say the water is going to rise another 25cm. Outside their front doors it’s like a river, I don’t know if the homes have been flooded.”
Fire services around the country also urged people not to drive through flood water and to plan ahead, while the London Fire Brigade warned of possible flooding in the capital where commuters were soaked as they crossed Westminster Bridge.
In Oxfordshire, a police force referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after an 87-year-old woman died when she hit a tree police had been warned about an hour and a half earlier.
Thames Valley police made a mandatory referral to the watchdog after the crash shortly before 5.20pm on Tuesday near Goring, where officers were aware that a tree had brought down power lines at the same location.
It comes after a man aged in his 50s died when a tree fell on his car in Gloucestershire just after 3pm on Tuesday afternoon. It is understood that as many as 800 homes were without power on Wednesday evening.
Disruption is expected to continue on Friday after commuters were warned on Thursday afternoon that they might not make it home as extreme weather caused fresh delays to rail journeys.
South Western Railway had warned that “extreme rainfall” until the end of the day meant customers travelling south of Guildford or west of Basingstoke should expect “severe disruption”.
It said services later on Thursday evening would likely be affected by a “significant knock-on impact” meaning further disruption and urged customers to check before they travel, travel earlier or expect delays and cancellations.
Great Western Rail, which runs services westwards from London, urged people to travel before 3pm warning services in Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall were at risk of flooding.
The operator said it would assess how flooding impacts the network overnight before updating its advice on Friday morning.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning from 12pm on Thursday, with rainfall expected to travel in a north-east direction across the south of England, lasting until 3am on Friday.
It added there is a “small chance” that communities could become cut off by flooded roads and that rain falling overnight would land on already saturated ground after Storm Henk that battered the UK on Tuesday.
It said: “The track of the heaviest rainfall remains very uncertain, but there is a chance of 20 to 30 millimetres falling in six to nine hours across a portion of the warning area, with a few places perhaps seeing 40 to 50 millimetres.
“Impacts are more likely due to the current very wet ground across the region.”
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
