Roads have been blocked and train services disrupted as flooding hit parts of the UK.

Some 40mm of rain fell within a 24-hour period and dozens of roads across the south and up to the Midlands are under water.

By this morning, the Environment Agency had issued more than 20 flood warnings — meaning flooding is expected and immediate action should be taken. More than half were in the south west.

So far most of the flooding appears to have been caused by smaller streams overflowing and the run-off from sodden fields. More serious flooding could follow if the rain continues and larger rivers, still swollen from earlier in the year, top their banks.

Although many crops for the Christmas period will have been harvested by now, the flooding of roads could disrupt the actual transportation of them.

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