Communities across southern and south west England have yet again been hit by heavy rain and high winds are sweeping across the UK - the Environment Agency currently has 165 Flood Warnings and 280 Flood Alerts in place for England and Wales.

Today Scotland and Northern are now bearing the brunt of the latest storms to hit the UK.  The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has put around two dozen flood warnings are in place across Scotland with the greatest risk for properties in the Borders.

The severe weather has brought an increased risk of flooding from swollen rivers and surface water on roads to many parts of the country.

The areas at risk of flooding are particularly southern, south west, central and eastern England. The Agency has also warned that coastal paths and promenades will be highly dangerous, with an increased risk of people being swept out to sea.

Larger rivers with longer response times – like the lower reaches of the River Severn – could also pose a flood risk into Boxing Day.

Throughout the festive period, Environment Agency teams will be out checking flood defences, monitoring river levels and supporting local authorities who will respond to any reports of surface water flooding.

The warning comes after a joint Environment Agency and AA survey found more than half (54 per cent) of UK licence holders – around 18million drivers – would endanger themselves and their vehicles by driving through moving flood water.

The research of 21,165 AA members, carried out by Populus, also revealed that more than a quarter (27%) of respondents would drive through moving flood water deeper than 30cm, which is enough to move a car.

A third of flood-related deaths involve a vehicle because drivers take unnecessary risks and last year, the second wettest on record in the UK, claimed the lives of several motorists.

In the same period, the AA rescued almost 9,000 vehicles that had driven through or were stuck in flood water, with an estimated insurance bill of more than £34 million.

Unsettled weather set to continue

David Jordan, Director of Operations at the Environment Agency, said:

“Unsettled weather is set to continue throughout the Christmas period, with heavy rain and wind affecting many parts of England, so people should check the flood forecast on the Environment Agency website to help plan – and sign up to flood warnings.”

Met Office Chief Forecaster Andy Page, said a rapidly deepening area of low pressure had brought the stormy conditions to the UK with the strongest winds along coastlines exposed to the south on Monday night and for Northern Ireland, the north and northwest of Scotland on Tuesday.

Leading environmental organization Friends of the Earth are warning that climate change will make flooding worse in future and have criticised the Government for cutting staff from the Environment Agency. FoE also say that the Coalition's new flood insurance plans fail to consider how climate change will make flooding worse in future and are calling on David Cameron to reverse “these foolish decisions “ and make tackling climate change a top priority.