Sunak meets residents during visit to flood-hit Oxford

The prime minister has met residents affected by flooding in Oxford.

Rishi Sunak also spoke to Environment Agency (EA) staff at a depot in Osney Island and said "touch wood, we're past the worst of it".

Homes, roads and cars in parts of Oxfordshire were submerged following heavy rainfall on Thursday.

Across England, more than 1,800 properties were flooded and 169 flood warnings are still in place, the EA said.

Of those warnings, 27 are in Oxfordshire.

The prime minister said the public were "complimentary" of the flood response

Mr Sunak said flooding had had "a devastating impact on communities up and down the country" but thanked first responders "who were doing a fantastic job".

"We have over 1,000 Environment Agency personnel on the ground in local communities helping, over 200 pumps have been deployed," he said, adding that local residents he spoke to had been "complimentary" of the response.

"People have been at pains to say they felt the engagement has been great and actually what has been happening has made a difference," he said.

He added the government had invested £5.2bn in flood defences.

However, a report by the The National Audit Office (NAO) in November said the number of extra homes to be protected from flooding in England has been cut by almost half, due to inflation having an impact on the amount of money invested.

Mr Sunak looked at flood defences during the visit

Large swathes of the country experienced flooding following a powerful storm and a week of heavy rainfall.

Flooded roads and railway lines brought travel disruption for many, and some places, including Thames Valley and Nottinghamshire, declared major incidents as a result.

On Saturday, the EA said flood risks would "start reducing over the weekend" but that "ongoing flood impacts" were likely over the next five days.

EA flood duty manager Katharine Smith urged people to avoid driving through flood water and to follow the advice of local emergency services.

River levels are expected to remain high, the EA said

Oxford City Council said the Thames and Cherwell rivers had reached their peak on Saturday, but added water levels would remain high for the next 24-48 hours.

Some roads and all towpaths remain shut, and sandbags are being deployed to at-risk households.