Amid Floods, Brits Brace For Yet More Rain

Police urged people to stay at home in one of the hardest-hit flooded areas of southern England on Saturday, as forecasters predicted more heavy rains across the region.

Authorities also asked people not to drive through Gloucestershire in southern England, where major roads were flooded by downpours last week, stranding hundreds of motorists in their cars overnight.

"We're grateful that the vast majority of people have shown great community spirit and been very supportive of us during this difficult time," said Alex Drummond, Gloucestershire's police superintendent.

"We're now appealing for people to help us this weekend by avoiding nonessential journeys and staying at home where possible. We don't want to have to divert resources away from defending the county's infrastructure to rescuing people stuck on the roads," he said.

The Environment Agency issued severe flood warnings in two regions.

In the past week, hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by water and electricity shortages as rivers and drainage systems in south England were overcome by heavy rains in the worst inundation in more than half a century.

Official figures showed the period from May to July of this year was the wettest since records began in 1766. The average countrywide rainfall of 15.25 inches for May-July this year is more than twice what it was for that period in each year from 1971 to 2000.

The Environment Agency said Friday that water levels in the flood-hit regions were either subsiding or had reached their peak. But hundreds of thousands of people remained without drinkable running water.

More than 1,000 mobile water tanks have been spread across the flooded regions and the army was distributing millions of bottles of water a day.

Tewskesbury, a picturesque town in Gloucestershire, west of London, was one of the hardest hit areas, and its suffering remained evident on Saturday.

The town was briefly cut off from surrounding areas by the floods, and many of its businesses and homes have been extensively damaged.

The 12th-century Tewkesbury Abbey and its vicar, Rev. Canon Paul Williams, have provided a lifeline during the crisis.

Williams said the disaster was the most extraordinary week of his life, and he praised the residents of the town. The abbey, which looms over the town, provided a shelter for hundreds of motorists stranded on the M5 highway on July 20.

Two men died this week as they tried to clear flood water from Tewkesbury Rugby Club's cellar.

Another resident, 19-year-old Mitchell Taylor, disappeared after leaving a club last weekend, police said. On Saturday, police found a body in a submerged field of the town, but it was not immediately identified.

During the crisis, the abbey — one of Tewkesbury's few unflooded buildings — has served as a refuge for residents and a distribution point for bottled drinking water and free food.

Williams even managed to hold a wedding in the building, which the couple reached in a boat.

At one point, customers at the nearby Bell pub helped install sandbags to protect the flood-threatened abbey, leading Williams to say: "Most people go from the abbey to the pub. This is the first time people have gone from the pub to the abbey."

On Sunday, flood victims planned a service at the abbey to pray that the worst of the disaster is over and that their town will return to normal.