Another band of heavy rain and gales is bringing further disruption and flooding to the UK.

The Environment Agency is warning of more significant disruption across southern England – the heavy rain is likely worsen the current flooding situation in some areas with rivers responding quickly to rain falling on already saturated ground.

The south of England is facing ongoing disruption, particularly the south east – such as along the River Medway and the Kentish Stour around Ashford and Canterbury.

Ongoing river flooding across the Somerset Levels, River Severn, River Thames and River Ouse in Cambridgeshire and rivers across Essex is also expected.

There are currently 51 flood warnings and 157 flood alerts in place across England and Wales - the figures are updated every 15 minutes on the Environment Agency website. A total of 94 flood warnings and flood alerts that have been removed in the last 24 hours

To date, 1,200 properties have flooding in England. The Environment Agency said its flood defences have protected more than 83,000 properties from flooding.

Environment Agency teams have been working round the clock to protect communities from flooding over Christmas. The Government is facing renewed criticism this morning over plans to reduce staffing levels by 1800 people in the New Year.

Shortly before Christmas the House of Commons held an adjournment debate to discuss flooding in the wake of very high coastal storm surges. Environment Secretary Owen Paterson was criticized by Suffolk MP Peter Aldous for decribing the surges as an exceptional event in a written statement in which he said:

“The extreme conditions of last week put sea defences to their greatest test in 60 years. Record tidal surge levels were experienced at many locations, including at North Shields, Whitby, Hull, Immingham and Dover. In Wales, Rhyl was badly hit with 250 properties affected. Some parts of the East Coast experience such circumstances only once every 500 years.”

In response, Peter Aldous said:

“It is wrong to dismiss these floods as a once in a 500 year occurrence. There were floods six years ago. I think with rising sea levels these are going to be a thing of the future, and we do need to be looking at protecting the most vulnerable areas.”

Speaking on BBC news this morning, Peter Fox, Head of Strategy and Investment at the Environment Agency from the Environment Agency said it would now have to consider how it would address flood risk reduction in England in future.

In Scotland, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency described the flooding situation as “an improving picture”, although there are still a number of flood alerts and warnings in place across the country. Scottish rivers have now peaked and levels are continuing to fall. A total of 8 flood alerts and 19 flood warnings are currently in place for Scotland.

In Wales, 1 flood warning and 8 flood alerts are in place.