Heavy rain set to return across UK

Heavy rains are expected to hit Britain again towards the end of the week.

Despite a brief respite on Wednesday, the rain is expected to come back with a vengeance from Wednesday onwards.

MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, explained that large parts of the country will be hit by rain as the system moves north, while strong winds will also be a problem in some places.

Forecasters believe gusts of up to 55mph could be felt in the South East and East Anglia.

This news might send people reaching for their home insurance policies to check if they are covered after the scenes witnessed in Wales and parts of southern England last week.

The Environment Agency (EA) stressed this point by saying: "The concern is now for Friday and Saturday when the forecast is for heavy rain."

On Wednesday, at one point, there were five flood warnings issued for rivers and 21 less serious alerts.

Most of the warnings were centred on East Anglia and the South East, as public services in the area continued launching evacuation procedures.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, council officers and Sussex Police had to remove people from their properties in Elmer, near Bognor Regis, after reports of water reaching up to 6ft high in some houses.

A Sussex Police spokeswoman added that inflatable boats had to be used to reach 250 properties, where they knocked on doors, searched properties and checked residents were safe.

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