Road and rail disruption after heavy rain

Passengers at Bristol Temple Meads have reported long delays and "chaos"

Heavy rain is causing severe disruption and travel "chaos" for travellers.

There are 13 flood warnings and several flood alerts in place in Somerset, and the Met Office has issued a yellow warning for rain covering much of the day.

Passengers at Bristol Temple Meads have reported long delays and "chaos".

Residents in Somerset said the flooding came as a "shock" to them.

Delys Thorp from Exeter said her day was "massively" impacted by the disruptions at Temple Meads.

"My daughter and I thought - what do we do, do we sleep on the platform?

"I had to absolutely beg my friend who owns a van to come and collect us."

Rachel Brown has also been stuck at Bristol Temple Meads on her way home to Exeter.

"Everybody is trying to get taxis to get further south," she told BBC West.

"Hopefully I'll be on my way shortly because I'm getting a little cold now."

Rachel Brown said she was "getting a little cold" while waiting for someone to pick her up from Bristol Temple Meads, where her journey was cut short

GWR and CrossCountry services are both being affected by flooding, with GWR trains to London being diverted via Bristol, extending journey times by up to two hours.

Jake Warren said on X: "Complete chaos at Bristol Temple Meads due to flooding. Most services cancelled.

"No idea what train I’m supposed to be driving next!"

Services were already reduced due to industrial action by train drivers.

Extreme rainfall in the Crewkerne area means fewer trains than normal can run between Exeter St Davids and Yeovil Junction.

Passengers have been advised not to travel between Salisbury and Exeter.

Adam James said the bottom end of South Petherton High Street was "completely flooded"

Adam James, who runs a tattoo studio in South Petherton, said: "When we picked up our daughter from school, my wife had to carry her over the water."

Mr James, who runs the tattoo and piercing studio The Drawing Room in South Petherton, had to cancel all of Monday's appointments due to the flooding.

Mr James said the decision was made because of customer safety.

"The bottom end of the high street is completely flooded, the Co-op is under water," he said.

"We will assess the situation day by day, but we expect to be closed for a few days."

Many roads across South Somerset are impassable

Flood warnings include the River Yeo from Sherborne to Yeovil, the River Isle from Chard Reservoir to Ilminster and the River Brue and Glastonbury Millstream from Lovington to Highbridge.

There have been delays on the A303 near Yeovil and Great Western Railway (GWR) has said the line between Taunton and Westbury is blocked due to flooding.

Somerset Council said 21 schools had to close due to bad weather, including Yeovil College.

Flooding has caused delays on the A303 near Podimore

Olga Cheborava said the flooding was a "shock" for her

Olga Cheborava who rents a home in Chew Magna with her family, said the flooding was a "shock" for her.

She said she arrived in Chew Magna in 2022 from Ukraine and this has already been the second flooding she witnessed.

"Our garden is flooded and our neighbours said maybe over night we'll get water in our house."

Ms Cheborava added that she might take her family to stay with friends in Bath, because she does not know what else to do.

A flood warden in Chew Magna said the flooding was getting "precarious"

Andy Leeder, flood warden in Chew Magna, said the situation was getting "precarious".

"It's come on rather quickly," he told BBC Somerset. "We have an escalation procedure where we get people in vulnerable houses to move their cars to begin with.

"We'll start advising people very soon to put up their barriers for protection."

He added that he hadn't seen a flood this high since January.

Chew Magna flood warden Andy Leeder said residents would soon be told to put up their flood barriers

Somerset Council said: "Our teams are extremely busy responding to reports of flooding across multiple parts of the county – it’s clear the ongoing heavy rainfall has had a significant impact and will continue to do so as we move into the evening.

"A number of major and minor roads are closed and Highways teams have responded to 40 incidents so far. We will be working round the clock to clear these."