Britain was Friday bracing itself for more downpours and gales as forecasters predicted turbulent weather over the weekend and early next week, worsening the situation in an already soggy country.
More towns faced misery from flooding Friday as water levels in parts of the country continued to rise.
An estimated 3,000 homes have now been swamped and the torrent of water is on the same scale as the "Great Floods" of 1947, according to the government's Environment Agency.
Heavy rain and near gale-force winds are forecast for Sunday. It is predicted these will intensify on Monday and last until Tuesday.
The storms are expected to batter Wales, southwest and northwest England before moving to the east and the southeast.
Yorkshire, in the north of England, was particularly badly hit Friday, while the rain-swollen Severn river again threatened the low-lying towns of Shrewsbury and Worcester in central England, which have been flooded for several days.
The Environment Agency said Friday a severe flood warning was still in force on the Severn.
In the Yorkshire region of north England there were seven severe flood warnings, and 70 flood warnings.
Properties were still being evacuated Friday, including 100 at Kellington near Selby, north England.
By Friday, 50 people had been evacuated from the nearby village of Gowdall and Environment Agency staff were inspecting flood defenses and helping people to put sandbags in place.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott told GMTV television news Friday that he would spend the weekend assessing the scale of the damage and examining the amount of resources he could allocate to help.
He said a major worry was that frequent extreme weather in the future could mean people find it more difficult to get home insurance.
On Thursday Prime Minister Tony Blair visited flood-ravaged areas of Britain to see at first-hand the havoc wrought by the weather.
During a visit to Shrewsbury he praised "amazingly stoical" residents in flood-hit areas.
He referred to global warming and added: "We have to put in the right protection for people against the possibility of floods and work to deal with the issue of climate change."
Meanwhile, critics have accused the Labor government of contributing to the floods by allowing building on areas of so-called Greenfield land, including areas, which would act as a natural flood defense system.
There were fears the problems could get worse, with the government planning to build 860,000 new homes in the southeast over the next 15 years to house workers moving south to work in the booming economy there -- LONDON (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
