The Environment Agency has issued 71 flood warnings and 165 flood alerts across England and Wales, as heavy rain continues to wreak havoc.

The South West of England has been particularly hard hit and people are putting up flood defences as more than three inches of rain threatens to cause rivers and streams to break their banks.

A severe weather warning is in place for south Devon and eastern parts of Cornwall.

Torrential rain led to flooded homes, road closures and havoc on public transport across parts of the country on Friday, as the latest downpours continued to fall on ground already saturated after three months of record-breaking rainfall across the UK.

Almost 100 properties were flooded, the M50 was closed by the bad weather and flooding and landslips caused delays on major rail routes.

The wash-out summer is set to continue in the coming weeks, with forecasters predicting the weather is likely to remain for the start of the Olympics.