Heavy rain and flooding are disrupting parts of the road and rail network as storms are set to move on to north-east England and north Wales.
Closures, delays and safety warnings are affecting dozens of A-roads, while cancellations and delays have also hit some national rail services.
Hundreds of flood warnings and alerts are in place in England and Wales.
Some 800 homes, mainly in south-west England, were flooded at the weekend, and two people died in the storms.
Devon and Cornwall were particularly badly hit, along with Malmesbury in Wiltshire and Kempsey in Worcestershire.
Chris Fawkes, from the BBC Weather Centre, said there had been about 60mm (2.5in) of rain in south-west England over the weekend.
He said: “A weather front will slowly move across north England and north Wales on Monday, and it’s here that we are likely to see some further serious flooding.”
South-west England continued to suffer considerable disruption to rail services on Monday, while flooding also caused delays on the following routes: between Durham and York; between Derby and Nottingham/Loughborough; between Shrewsbury and Craven Arms; and between Bangor and Holyhead.
A landslip near Dorking, Surrey, has also disrupted services between London and Horsham, West Sussex.
On the roads, some of the worst-hit areas have been in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire.
The Met Office has issued amber “be prepared” weather warningsfor 50-70mm (2-3in) of rain in north-east England and Yorkshire and Humber regions. A further amber alert for north Wales warned there could be more than 90mm (3.5in) of rain on high ground.
The Environment Agency has issued 196 flood warnings across England and Wales, which mean people should take action because flooding is expected. There are also 292 less severe flood alerts – indicating people should prepare for possible flooding.
County Durham, Teesside, North Yorkshire and the Conwy area of north Wales are expected to be worst affected.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency,Sepa, has two flood alerts in place in the Borders and Edinburgh and Lothians regions. There are none in Northern Ireland.
Heavy rain and the related risk of flooding are forecast to continue until late on Tuesday.
‘Shocking scenes’
In developments around the country:
- Insurance companies say talks with the government about flood cover are at “crisis point”, and could leave 200,000 homes uninsured next year – but the government says discussions are ongoing
- Two people died in the storms over the weekend – a woman killed by a falling tree in Exeter and a man whose car crashed into a swollen river in Cambridgeshire
- In Malmesbury, town residents have started a clear-up after what the mayor called the worst flooding there in 70 years
- Residents of Kempsey, Worcestershire, have criticised the village’s new £1.5m flood defences which they say has made the flooding worse than in 2007
- The National Memorial Arboretum, near Alrewas, Staffordshire, is closed because of flooded roads in the surrounding area, and people planning visits later in the week are advised to check the official website
On Twitter, the prime minister has talked of “shocking scenes of flooding”.
David Cameron also said the government “will help ensure everything is being done to help”.
Environment minister Richard Benyon has said he is “impressed with how the emergency services and Environment Agency have responded” to wet weather.
“What we learned from the floods in 2007 has been invaluable and what local authorities are doing … working with the Environment Agency, with the emergency services, is certainly improving the situation – but if your house is flooded it feels pretty bleak,” he said.
The minister added: “We are better prepared, but no-one is taking away from the misery that these floods have caused or the threat of further floods. You can only feel sorry for those people.
“Our estimate is that about 20,000 homes have been protected by flood defences that have built in the past few years.”
But Stephen Gilbert, the Liberal Democrat MP for St Austell and Newquay, said the events of the last two days “should be a wake-up call for a government that needs to grip this issue and do so quickly”.
“We know that flash flooding is increasing because of climate change and there’s now little we can do to stop it, but the government must act to make sure people aren’t left without insurance when the worst does happen,” he said.
