Flood-affected communities are gearing up as other torrential rain bands started sweeping across Britain on Sunday with no end to winter storms.
A yellow weather alert was issued for Sunday morning pouring rain in an already drenched south Wales while another torrential rain wave moved south west from the country.
Meteorologists said this will give way to rainier weather as the day progresses, but the storm will return again Sunday night, bringing rain and strong winds to many areas and snow in parts of Scotland and northern England on Monday. .
While extreme weather is expected to stabilize on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Met Office said further heavy rain is expected later in the week.
The sad prospect follows more than a dozen downpours and floods that started with Storm Ciara, continued with Storm Dennis and then continued with storms over the weekend, which – contrary to some reports – were not named by the Met Office.
The number of flood warnings in force in England declined slightly on Saturday afternoon as rain sank in many areas, albeit with gale winds continuing in the north.
On Saturday night, five flood warnings remained in place across Wales – mainly on the River Severn and River Dee – with 23 flood alarms.
In England, the two severe floods on the Lugg River in Herefordshire have been downgraded, but 74 alarms and 170 floods have remained active.
Sunday starts unstable, but 4 times the sky will light up and #winds generally it will lighten. Here is the 4cast ???? pic.twitter.com/jKRNo9IxvQ
– Met Office (@metoffice) February 22, 2020
The Met Office said the rainy night patch will give way to rainier weather on Sunday.
But he warned that the weather system would have to go back Sunday evening, bringing widespread rain and wind in many parts, with snow on central and southern Scotland and the northern Pennines hills that gave a gloomy start on Monday.
A yellow weather warning for heavy rain was issued from 3 to 3 on Monday for the north of England.
There is also a yellow snow warning covering much of central and southern Scotland on Monday.
Meteorologists said that snow could also fall on higher ground in the more northern parts of England.
Dan Suri, head of forecasts at the Met Office, said: “On Monday, a relatively deep area of the low pressure system provides a continuation of the extremely unstable period that the UK has experienced.
“Despite reports to the contrary, this system has not been named and there is currently no plan to do so, despite some speculation on social media.
“With further rain in the forecast for the next few days, further rainfall could create further challenges as river basins are more likely to respond to extra rain more quickly.
“Flooding, especially in areas already heavily affected, remains a possibility.”
Scott Squires, tactical manager of Natural Resources Wales, said: “As the flood waters recede and communities start to get back on their feet, we will continue to support local authorities and the emergency service in these affected areas.
“In the coming days, our teams will check for signs of damage to our flood defenses and remove the blocks and debris that have accumulated in culverts, drainage networks, etc.”
There was further flooding on Friday night and Saturday morning on the southern edge of the Yorkshire Dales.
The village of Horton-in-Ribblesdale was interrupted by rising water and there were road closures and further flooding along the Otley-Ilkley-Skipton corridor north of Bradford.
North Yorkshire fire and rescue officials said they had to rescue four people from a car stuck in Skipton and two horses stuck in nearby flood waters.