Floody Hell !

One of the biggest rescue operations in peacetime Britain was drawing to a close last night with the Prime Minister promising 'lessons would be learnt' from the two days' flood chaos.

After some of the heaviest rain in living memory across central England, the RAF said it had lifted dozens of stricken families from houses surrounded by floodwater. Thousands were forced into emergency centres overnight and schoolchildren and drivers were stranded.

A total of 16 severe flood warnings were still in place last night, with more rain expected in the Midlands and the north of England. Thousands of people spent Friday night in emergency centres, and the job of opening motorways yesterday was hampered by large numbers of abandoned cars. The Highways Agency said so many vehicles had been abandoned between junctions six and eight on the southbound M5 that it was in effect blocked again.

Network Rail admitted some rail routes could take days to clear from landslides, and passengers flying via Heathrow airport faced long waits for new flights after 141 services were cancelled on Friday.

The chief officer of Gloucester Fire and Rescue Service said it was still attending incidents last night. 'We've been dealing with some absolutely horrendous flooding. We've attended 1,800 incidents in the last 18 hours. Normally we attend 8,000 in a whole year.'

Watch a BBC video HERE