Flood-hit communities face further disruption as fresh bands of heavy rain forecast
A fresh band of heavy rain is expected to sweep over the UK as flooded communities continue to recover from a fortnight of downpours.
It comes as communities in south Wales, northern and central England are still struggling to cope with the impact of Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis.
Forecasters warned a new band of heavy rain would be coming in from Saturday evening, followed by another wave on Sunday night - extending into a grim-looking Monday for most of the UK.
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for heavy rain in an already saturated South Wales from 10pm on Saturday to 11am on Sunday.
On Saturday evening, nine flood warnings remained in force across Wales – mainly on the River Severn and River Dee – with 10 flood alerts.
In England, the two severe flood warnings on the River Lugg, in Herefordshire, were downgraded but 75 flood warnings and 156 flood alerts remain in place.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said they had to rescue four people from a stranded car in Skipton on Friday night and two horses stuck in floodwater nearby.
The service also said it was helping with flooded properties in the village of Giggleswick.
The damage wreaked by Storm Dennis last weekend and Storm Ciara the week before is projected to run into the billions to repair.
Although this weekend will bring bouts of rain, high winds and even snow in places, the Met Office said on Saturday the conditions did not merit classifying the weather as a named storm.
The Met Office said the overnight band of rain would give way to more showery weather during Sunday, but warned the weather system was due to pivot back on Sunday night.
Forecasters are warning to expect widespread rain and wind for many parts, with snow over central and southern Scotland and the hills of the north Pennines.
A yellow weather warning for heavy rain has been issued for 3am to 3pm on Monday.
Dan Suri, chief forecaster at the Met Office, said: "With further rain in the forecast over the coming days, additional rainfall could create further challenges as river catchments are more likely to respond to extra rainfall more quickly.
"Flooding, especially in areas already heavily affected, remains a possibility."
Prince Charles visited Pontypridd in South Wales on Friday which has been badly hit by the floods.
It is estimated that 1,100 properties – both residential and commercial – have been affected in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area.
Charles walked down Pontypridd’s high street, where many shops are closed due to flood damage.
Caroline Douglass, director of incident management at the Environment Agency (EA), said on Friday: “This will be the third weekend of exceptional river levels and stormy weather.
“With the effects of climate change, we need to prepare for more frequent periods of extreme weather like this.
The EA said that river levels have exceeded existing records with the Colne, Ribble, Calder, Aire, Trent, Severn, Wye, Lugg and Derwent among the many rivers where records have been broken.
But the agency said that, even with record river levels, the number of homes flooded has been lower than in other major flood events of the last 20 years.