Rail chiefs urge people not to travel in south-west and steer clear of floodwater after several stranded motorists are rescued
Heavy rain late on Monday could bring more flooding on Christmas Day as the bad weather continues to threaten homes, businesses, roads and railways.
Rail bosses urged people not to travel in the south-west of England with the main rail route into Devon and Cornwall blocked until Friday at least by floodwaters from the River Exe between Tiverton and Exeter.
Emergency services also warned people not to walk or drive near floodwater. A disabled woman had to be rescued when her car stalled at Saul, near Frampton on Severn, Gloucestershire, on Monday, while Devon and Cornwall police released video footage of a rescue of a woman at Umberleigh, near Barnstaple, Devon.
The woman had been swept away after calling 999 for help from a stranded 4x4 early on Sunday morning. The woman had to cling on to a tree branch until a helicopter crew found her by using a heat-seeking device. They then guided firefighters in a rigid inflatable boat to save her.
A man and his son were also rescued from the top of a 4x4 by a local farmer using a tractor.
Coastguards warned walkers to stay away from rivers and coastal paths which could be unstable and, on beaches, to keep their distance from cliffs. On the railways, a landslip at Teignmouth and flooding hit other services in the south-west with rail companies warning that replacement bus services may be limited and themselves affected by flooding of local roads. First Great Western was operating buses between Tiverton Parkway and Exeter St David's stations while CrossCountry was stopping at Taunton for road transfers. Flooding also caused disruption in south Wales where buses had to replace trains between Bridgend and Barry.
Other delays, between Birmingham New Street and Rugby, and between Hove and Chichester in Sussex, were caused by people being hit by trains. Electrical supply problems affected services between Seaford and Newhaven, also in Sussex.
On Britain's roads, spray was a problem for many drivers, while flooding closed the A27 eastbound near Chichester and an overturned lorry blocked the A30 eastbound between the turnings for Redruth and Truro. In the Scottish borders, three people died early on Monday in a crash that closed the A68 about 1.5 miles south of Pathhead, Midlothian. Three passengers in one car died, a man was cut free from the same overturned vehicle and the female driver got out before emergency services arrived. No one in a second car involved in the crash was hurt. Other accidents led to lane closures on the M6 in Cumbria and Staffordshire and the M54 in Staffordshire.
While people tried to clean up homes and businesses hit by the floods, some for the second time in months, 154 flood warnings and 258 flood alerts remained in place in England and Wales, mainly in the south and Midlands, with similar warnings still covering swaths of Scotland from the Borders to Aberdeenshire.
Nearly 250 properties including 30 businesses were flooded in Devon and Cornwall over the weekend but most people who were evacuated have now returned.
Although the rain is expected to ease on Christmas Day and into Boxing Day, with sunshine and showers on the two holiday days, the Met Office and Environment Agency urged people to remain prepared for trouble.
Tim Hewson, Met Office chief forecaster, said: "Following a very wet and windy few days, we expect brighter skies for many on Christmas Day – although there will be some heavy showers around. We will continue to see spells of heavy rain through the rest of the week and this will fall onto already waterlogged ground in many areas, bringing the continuing risk of localised flooding. We will be monitoring the situation and keeping everyone up-to-date with the latest picture through our forecasts and warnings. By thinking ahead the public can be more weather aware and better prepared for severe weather."
John Curtin, head of incident management at the Environment Agency, said: "Flooding is devastating at any time of year, but it is particularly hard at Christmas time, and our thoughts are with those who will be out of their homes over the festive period.
"Although the rain is set to ease a little in the coming days, the ground is still very wet and river levels remain high, so we would ask people to keep up to date with the latest warnings and stay prepared for flooding. We also remind people not to walk or drive through floodwater – which can be extremely dangerous."
The unsettled weather looks set to continue throughout this week and into the weekend when strong to gale force southwesterly winds will bring spells of heavy rain across the UK at times, according to the Met Office.
It said the wettest place in the UK since rain started on Wednesday 19 December to 6am on Monday was Tyndrum in Perthshire, with 155mm (6.1in) of rain, while Cardinham, near Bodmin Cirnwall, was the wettest in England at 128.8mm (5.1in). Some areas have exceeded their full-month December average in those five days – such as Plymouth, which had seen 128.8mm (5.1in), compared with a 118.8m (4.7in) average.
Despite the troubles in the south-west and Wales, 91% of rail services were operating within 10 minutes of timetables for long-distance trains and five minutes for commuter trains, according to Network Rail. As for the problems in Devon, where the River Exe has burst its banks, a spokeswoman said "many dozens" of its staff and contractors were trying to keep water out of electrical circuits which would cause major problems if damaged.
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Guardian