A major incident has been declared in Somerset after swathes of south-west England were left flooded and cut off by Storm Chandra.
The heavy rain and strong winds prompted calls for more resources to be invested in making the region more resilient in extreme weather.
Somerset council said on Tuesday evening that an estimated 50 properties had been affected by flooding across Ilminster, West Coker, Taunton, Mudford and West Camel as a result of “extensive flooding overnight”.
The authority added that the risk of flooding on the Somerset Levels and Moors “remains high as rainwater moves through the system”.
The leader of Somerset council, Bill Revans, said: “Storm Chandra brought more than 50mm of rain to parts of Somerset last night, on top of already saturated land, and this has caused widespread disruption.”
The council leader said teams had been working through the night and were continuing to respond to reports of roads which remained impassable.
“The weather forecast remains challenging so we will be working with colleagues in the emergency services to ensure we are prepared should the situation continue to deteriorate.”
The storm also caused deep snowfalls in northern Britain and led to travel disruption and the shutting of hundreds of schools across the UK, including 47 in Devon and 300 in Northern Ireland.
The south-west of England, which had already been battered by storms Goretti and Ingrid earlier this month, bore the brunt.
In the Devon town of Ottery St Mary, the River Otter rose to its highest level on record. The area remained under a flood alert on Tuesday evening.
Devon and Cornwall police urged people not to travel in Exeter and east and mid-Devon unless they urgently needed to. Devon and Somerset fire service rescued people from 25 vehicles stranded in flood water, with a spokesperson confirming there were no casualties.
The leader of Devon county council, Julian Brazil, told the Guardian the floods demonstrated how vulnerable the region was. “We feel a bit cut off down here. The south-west feels let down.”
He said a good illustration was the rail network. Services between London and south-west England on Tuesday were cancelled, delayed or involved bus transfers because of flooding on the line between Taunton and Exeter.
“We feel we’re being left behind,” Brazil said. “We’ve seen billions pumped in [to rail services] up north, and that’s about just shaving a few minutes off the times getting to London. What we’d like is to actually be able to get to London on the train at all.”
His complaints echoed those of people in Cornwall this month, many of whom were left without power, water and internet after Storm Goretti.
Richard Foord, the MP for Honiton and Sidmouth in Devon, said people were having a “horrendous” time and he predicted the number of properties flooded would increase.
The Devon Wildlife Trust expressed concern for the beavers that live in and around the River Otter. A spokesperson said: “Despite being semi-aquatic mammals, rapidly rising and rapidly moving water is a threat to them, especially young, less experienced animals. Floods will overwhelm their burrows and lodges, the sheer force of the water can be too much for them to swim against and submerged debris represents a threat.”
Residents of the Somerset Levels, a low-lying area very vulnerable to flooding, feared their homes could be at risk again. The Flooding on the Levels Action Group (Flag) claimed the authorities had not funded maintenance of the waterways sufficiently. It also expressed concern that earlier this month, as heavy rain fell, a pumping station that removes water from the area was not operating because of planned electrical works.
Flag’s spokesperson Bryony Sadler said there was concern homes could be flooded. “We’re tentatively starting to move stuff. I’ve rung neighbours this morning to tell them to move animals out,” she said.
Extreme rainfall is becoming more common and more intense in many parts of the world because of human-caused climate breakdown. This is because warmer air can hold more water vapour. Flooding is also affected by human factors such as the existence of flood defences and land use.
The Met Office said 105mm (4.13in) of rain fell on parts of Dartmoor in Devon in 12 hours. The strongest winds recorded were 75mph gusts at St Bees Head in Cumbria and 63mph at Machrihanish on the west coast of Scotland.
By late evening on Tuesday there were 96 flood warnings in England, meaning flooding was expected, and more than 250 alerts, meaning flooding was possible, with heavy rain falling on already saturated ground. There were three flood warnings and 17 alerts in Wales, with eight warnings and eight alerts in place across Scotland.
There was significant travel disruption because of rain, wind or snow in northern England and south Wales.
Domestic flights were cancelled on routes serving Birmingham, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heathrow, Leeds Bradford, London City, Manchester and Southampton airports on Tuesday.
Yellow weather warnings have been issued for ice on Wednesday morning covering much of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and southern and central Scotland.
A yellow weather warning for rain is also in place for South West England on Thursday, with the Met Office saying that further rain could bring more flooding and transport disruption.
In Devon, one man, Billy Vernon, described how he and his sons, 14 and 17, were trapped by flood water upstairs in a house close to the River Axe and he had to wade through waist-deep water to fetch supplies.
He said water began coming into the house at 4am on Tuesday. “It was frightening. My son came running in panicking saying that the house was filling up with water. All of the furniture is destroyed and the walls are going to have to be redone.”
The rail operator GWR said that after Storm Ingrid at the weekend a large sinkhole had appeared in Devon and would need to be filled, leading to a closure of the line between Exeter St Davids and Newton Abbott overnight on Wednesday and into Thursday.
