Shrewsbury continues to be one of the worst affected places across the West Midlands.

These pictures from the BBC's Louisa Currie show the situation across the town this afternoon, including the road closures in the centre and the high level of the River Severn.

Let's look at the forecast river levels over the next few hours: In Staffordshire, the River Trent at Burton, external peaked at an unconfirmed record level of 3.87m, beating the previous maximum reached just under four years ago. It's now started to recede.

Levels in Worcester, external have remained almost static through the day at about 5.5m, and aren't expected to fall significantly for some time. Bewdley, external is expected to see maximum levels tomorrow morning. The barriers have been raised to their highest level in anticipation of the peak.

In Shropshire, the peak passed Shrewsbury, external earlier today, but levels aren't expected to peak in Ironbridge until later this evening, at between 6.1m and 6.3m, external. Bridgnorth, external will see its highest levels tomorrow, predicted at between 4.9m and 5.2m.

Since peaking on Wednesday night, the Avon in Stratford, external has fallen steadily through the day, with levels in the Warwickshire town currently modelled to return to normal levels over the weekend.

The Royal Shakespeare Company has confirmed that all scheduled performances on Thursday will be going ahead.

The Stratford-upon-Avon theatre was forced to cancel all its evening performances on Tuesday and Wednesday as a result of the flooding.

A flood warning remains in place for the River Avon but the Environment Agency said that levels were falling.

People have been told to avoid using low-lying footpaths and bridges near watercourses.

The flood barriers in Bewdley have been raised to their "highest phase", the Environment Agency confirmed.

The defences have been put up at Beales Corner in anticipation of the River Severn's forecast peak on Friday.

Clare Dinnis, Environment Agency area director for the West Midlands, said the river was expected to peak at between 4.8m and 5.1m.

Image source, Environment Agency

Faith Page
Reporter, BBC Shropshire

A village pub has been unable to welcome customers after it flooded.

Water has come into the cellar of The Half Moon Inn at Jackfield in the Ironbridge Gorge, while the car park has also been flooded.

The pub is located right next to the River Severn and landlord Nigel Venn said he had got used to it flooding over the years.

“We’re grateful when the summer is here because we’ve got a lovely spot, but in the winter we have to put up with what comes," he said.

“We’re pumping it out as much as we can but it’s hard work sometimes. We’re keeping our fingers crossed at the moment.”

He said the situation can often be worse, adding that the water can get "quite a bit higher".

"We’re hoping it’s at its peak now and it will start to go down later today," Mr Venn said.

“The council have been pretty good - in all fairness there’s not a lot they can do. We’re more than happy, we just carry on as we are."

The Environment Agency said the River Severn was expected to peak in Ironbridge on Thursday evening at between 6.1m and 6.3m.

To Staffordshire, where levels on the River Trent in Burton could be the highest ever recorded.

That's according to Ian Jones from the Environment Agency.

Although the levels have not been verified, in a post on X he said there was now "huge amounts" of water in the system, and an improved flood defence scheme had protected thousands of properties overnight.

Organisers of Shrewsbury's parkrun event have cancelled this Saturday's run, due to the course being "part of the River Severn".

The weekly event takes place in the town's main park, the Quarry, which sits along the loop of the river.

In a post on X, external, they said they hoped to be running as normal next weekend.

Greg Cunningham lives in Severn Stoke, and said his cottage has now been flooded four times in four years.

The impact of this latest flood on his family would be "horrendous" as they look for temporary housing, he added.

They had pumps running to minimise the amount of water getting into the property, but the power failed during the night.

The father-of-two has owned the cottage since 2017 and said when they were flooded in 2020, they were out of their home for 18 months.

He said he was lucky to be fully covered by Flood Re, external insurance, which is a joint initiative between the government and insurers.

But delays in beginning flood defence work in the village were "very frustrating", said Mr Cunningham, and they were "at threat all the time" until it happened.

To Worcestershire, and some more pictures showing how the River Teme has burst its banks.

They were taken by Philip Stoneman from BBC Hereford and Worcester at Powick Bridge and the footbridge above the Worcester Southern Link / Powick Island.

People planning to visit Shrewsbury town centre have been urged to use park-and-ride or other local bus services.

Shropshire Council said a lot of people were driving in but there were no spaces due to multiple car park closures caused by the flooding.

The car parks currently closed are:

• Frankwell Riverside
• Frankwell Main
• St Julian's Friars
• Raven Meadows multi-storey

The owner of a Worcestershire pub has told BBC Hereford and Worcester that the floodwater outside his venue is at chest height.

A few inches of water had made it inside the Rose and Crown pub in Severn Stoke, said Andy Goodall.

"Our pumps have been going continuously for maybe 36 hours straight," he said.

The 500-year-old timber building was wrapped in a damp-proof membrane and sandbagged, he added.

"This is our fifth flood, and the third in 12 months," Mr Goodall said.

He described the situation as "heartbreaking" and said previous flooding led to losses of £20,000 each week.

The owner of a cleaning company had been in touch offering to help with the clean-up free of charge which Mr Goodall said was as a "lovely gesture."

Image source, Andrew Goodall

Image source, Andrew Goodall

Image source, Andrew Goodall

The River Sow's levels appear to have fallen by 20cm today, according to Staffordshire County Council.

That means roads will begin to be accessible as time passes, it added.

The A34 at Darlaston towards Tittensor has reopened, after it was closed because of excessive flooding on the northbound carriageway.

Highways crews are still working "around the clock" to tackle surface flooding, and will reopen roads as soon as they are safe to cross, the council said.

BBC Midlands Today

Nick Green from the Environment Agency has just warned the current floods are likely to be "a long drawn out affair and we're expecting it to last a few more days yet",

He told BBC Midlands Today that while river levels were starting to fall in some places "it's not going to be a sharp drop, there is a lot of water in tributaries".

Mr Green also told us this lunchtime it was very important that people living near waterways kept in touch with the latest flood warnings and understood what the rivers were doing.

Now, with less rain forecast, he said the focus of the agency would be to follow the flooding as it moved downstream.

Mark Davies and his wife spent £30,000 improving flood measures at their hotel in Shrewsbury but said about an inch of water had still come into the building.

He is the owner of Darwin’s Townhouse, near Greyfriar’s Bridge and said their biggest problem was water seeping up through the ground, rather than water flowing down from the river.

Mr Davies said his business had been flooded each of the past four years, including twice in one week in 2020.

In response, he set up flood barriers around his property while inside his basement he installed new pumps and drains to keep it clear.

He said there had been a lot of paperwork involved to get the grant to help pay for the work.

The city council is encouraging shoppers to head to Worcester today.

Retailers are open for business, and car parks away from the river are open as normal, it said.

Several BBC local radio stations in the West Midlands are staying with local programming from 14:00-18:00 GMT, to give listeners the latest information about the floods and ongoing weather situation where they live:

• Kate Justice will be on air at BBC Hereford and Worcester
• Ed Nell will present at BBC Radio Shropshire
• Geoff Eze will present at BBC Radio Stoke

Image source, BBC Weather Watcher Sky High

The River Severn is still very high in Shrewsbury but the clean-up work which follows a flood is already underway.

Mark Barrow, the council officer responsible for community and infrastructure, said that meant removing debris washed up by the river, among other things.

He also said his teams have been working "flat out" over the past 24 hours to keep drains cleared.

But here you can see the extent of the problem.

This photo was taken by Beth Hinton, who lives on Smithfield Road in Shrewsbury, and you can see the water is halfway up the window in her cellar.

Image source, Beth Hinton

Thanks to Vintagehues69 for sharing aerial pictures of the flooding in Pershore, Worcestershire.

BBC Radio Shropshire

People in the Coleham area of Shrewsbury seem pretty relaxed about the flooding, but then a lot of them have seen it all before.

Ann Talbot, the manager of Coleham Deli and Sandwich Bar, said the river appeared to be rising more slowly than last year, when her shop was forced to close.

She added: "Hopefully it's just going to be a bit slow and steady and not make it up to us."

Many shops around Coleham have remained open and she said: "I think everyone's just trying to keep it as normal as possible."

Jake Hopkinson from Shropshire Highways has been making sure nobody drives through the road closure signs in the area and was pleased to report "we've kept on top of it this time".

He added: "People have been respectful and they've been helpful and talkative and it's been nice to see really."

Image source, Farson Digital Watercams

Stranded vehicles are continuing to block a stretch of the A443 in Worcestershire, despite flood waters receding, a FarsonDigitalWaterCams.com webcam shows, external.

The county council's highways team said the route at Lindridge remained closed between Tenbury and Stockton Water, external.

Seven people were rescued from seven vehicles on the route between Lindridge and Eardiston on Tuesday, said the fire service.

All seven were unhurt and were taken to safety after the road became impassable.