Giant aqua booms used to fight the rising floodwater

Emergency teams battling to stop more flooding along the Thames are using water to fight water.

Giant aqua-booms were inflated at Chertsey in Surrey, one of the communities worst affected.

The Thames rose to its highest level for sixty years in some places today.

The Environment Agency warned more rain tomorrow and Saturday would increase the risk of further flooding.

The Agency said 700 properties are known to be flooded, although estimates from the police and fire service suggest it could much higher. In some submerged streets in Egham, residents accused the authorities of abandoning them. They complained of too few sandbags and no official evacuation.

In Staines, a local GP set up a temporary consulting room in a hotel honeymoon suite after his surgery was flooded.

The Thames Barrier will close for nearly four hours tonight, from 9:15pm to try to lower water levels in Berkshire and Surrey.