Flood-hit communities across the UK are counting the cost of torrential downpours that left homes under water and one man dead.

However the worst of the weather, in which a month's worth of rain pelted parts of the country in just 24 hours, is now thought to be over.

But forecasters say that rain will continue to fall in heavy bursts across the whole country for at least another week.

Devon was worst hit yesterday as three severe flood warnings were issued, while a man was killed in Northumberland when his car crashed off a rain-soaked road.

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman is due to visit the Met Office in Exeter today for a briefing.

A severe flood warning from the Environment Agency remains in place for Axminster in Devon around the River Axe, and there are also 41 flood warnings and 133 flood alerts.

Billy Payne, a forecaster for Meteogroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "The worst of the showers today are going to be across East Anglia, Lincolnshire and the South East, with longer spells of rain mixed in there as well.

"There will also be outbreaks of rain for northern and western Scotland and Northern Ireland as well."