Flooding leads to disruption across the West

1. Residents evacuated from their homes in Gloucestershire - with Alney Island badly affected
2. Thirty-two flood warnings issued for Gloucestershire with water surrounding Tewkesbury
3. Twenty-five flood warnings for Wiltshire - with river levels rising in Bradford-on-Avon
4. A landslip at Crewkerne is blocking railway lines from Yeovil and Exeter
5. The railway line between Swindon and Bristol Parkway is still closed - days after it first shut due to flooding
6. The Reading to Taunton line is also closed due to flooding

Aerial view of Lydbrook in Gloucestershire

Mark Turner

Mark Turner took these aerial shots showing the scale of flooding in Lydbrook, Gloucestershire.

Mark Turner

School playing fields flooded

BBC

There certainly won't be any PE lessons at Monkton Combe School for the foreseeable future.

Playing fields at the independent school, located south of Bath, Somerset, is under several inches of water and the owners of some precariously positioned cars will be hoping for a drop in water levels.

BBC

Woman and four dogs rescued from Alney Island home

A woman, who lives on Alney Island - an island on the River Severn in Gloucester - and her four dogs have been rescued from her flooded home.

Alney Island is a strip of land sitting between two channels of the River Severn, measuring 2.1 miles (3.3km) long and 0.7m (1.1km) wide and is managed by the city council as a nature reserve which is open to the public.

Rescues underway in Gloucestershire as flood water enters homes

GWR travel update and tickets

Great Western Railway has issued another travel warning and said tickets for Thursday 4 and Friday 5 January will be valid for use on Saturday 6 January.

Bradford-on-Avon car park 'more like a harbour'

BBC

Reporter Imogen Sellers, who is in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, this afternoon says a car park is looking more like a harbour and the town centre like a paddling pool.

Two years ago, the Environment Agency withdrew its temporary flood defences because of safety concerns elsewhere in the country.

Home and business owners say they have been left to fend for themselves and that they have been forced to provide their own form of defences.

People have been saying it is like the 2013 floods, but it is still 23cm off those highest levels.

BBC

Pictures show flooded Gloucestershire street

A residential street in Longford, Gloucestershire, is largely underwater.

Pictures show wheelbarrows submerged in the water and garden hoses being used to empty water out of homes.

BBC

BBC

BBC

Somerset pub says floods 'worst in 20 years'

Ross Pollard

BBC West, Somerset Reporter

BBC West journalist Ross Pollard has been to Evercreech in Somerset.

The Bell Inn was flooded last night with water gushing into the premises.

Abbi King, who works there, said: "I've worked here for more than 20 years and I've never seen it like that before.

"It was just gushing through the pub and there was nothing we could do."

BBC

BBC

Sandbags delivered by boats

Sandbags are being delivered to residents by boat in Longford, Gloucestershire, to protect their homes from being flooded.

BBC

BBC

Couple 'stranded after car flooded'

Ross Pollard

BBC West Journalist

BBC West journalist Ross Pollard, speaking from Evercreech in Somerset, said:

"People were helping the village, after it was flooded by water coming from the river nearby.

"One couple were stranded after their car and exit routes were flooded.

"This morning dehumidifiers were put in place and The Bell Inn is still closed.

"On my way to the village I passed sandbags outside properties and several abandoned cars from the night before."

'Cars sending water into our home'

BBC

One woman in Longford, Gloucestershire, Sam, told the BBC they have parked their van in the road to stop people driving fast as it "is causing ripples into their home".

She said: "This is what it has come to, it is just not fair. Not fair for us around here.

"2007 I know it was worse and it came into our house. In 2012 it was not, it was not up to our house at all. Whereas this year with all the building going on around here on all the flood plains it has just become worse."

Around 40 evacuated from retirement flats

A spokesperson for Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said approximately 40 people were moved out of retirement flats in Marlborough.

The service were called to the complex, named Town Hill, at 10:59 GMT as a "precautionary move given the level of flooding in that area" and has a water rescue team from Stratton.

Osprey Management which runs the flats has been approached for comment.

'We had water in the kitchen'

Wheelbarrows used to support flooding clean-up in Gloucestershire

Longford in Gloucester has been badly affected with flood water with wheelbarrows being used to clean up.

One resident, Emma, told the BBC: "Last night we had about an inch in our kitchen. Not really sure where it's coming in from - just through the walls we think, as we've got a flood door.

"Then this morning we came down and it has actually got into our hallway and now it is coming up through the floor in our living room.

"We've been here for 11 years but this is the first time it's been this bad."

BBC

Flooding 'could be as bad as 2000'

Claverton Pumping Station Trust

Julian Stirling is the chair of trustees at Claverton Pumping Station, which is on the River Avon.

He told the BBC they are used to ground-floor flooding as it is at river level, and the river is flowing so fast it is not safe to go and see the damage.

They have marks on the walls made by former millers showing how high the floods have been previously.

He thinks this one could be as bad as the 2000 flood and describes it as “ludicrous” and “scary”.

He said it looks like the River Danube because the river has overtopped so much and is flowing so fast.

Claverton Pumping Station Trust

Watch: Crews work to repair damage after Crewkerne landslip

Rail works landslide

A landslip at Crewkerne had blocked all lines, causing delays and cancellations on Friday.

A spokesperson for South Western Railway said it will not be able to operate services between Yeovil Junction and Exeter, due to the landslip.

Rob Shipman, who took the footage above, said concrete is now being moved to help build a retaining wall at the site.

Footage shows extent of flooding on Bradford-on-Avon

You can see from this how much the levels have risen on the River Avon in Wiltshire.

Here, it's running under the bridge in the centre of Bradford-on-Avon.

Video shows how high the river levels are on the Avon in Wiltshire.

Cleveland Pools in Bath flooded

Cleveland Pools in Bath, Somerset, has been completely flooded.

Netty Miles

Women and four dogs rescued near Gloucester

BBC

An elderly woman and her four dogs just been rescued from a house on Alney Island.

The area in Gloucestershire has been badly affected with residents advised to evacuate overnight.

BBC

BBC

Tewkesbury Abbey like 'Noah's Ark'

Speaking to John Maguire on BBC Breakfast, the Reverend Canon Nick Davies:

"People are pulling together, I was out all day yesterday and seeing people really responding. Looking out for one another. Local councillors filling up sandbags, with our local search and rescue team with their inflatable boats rescuing people out of things, getting some people re-homed. Tewkesbury is a resilient place we have been here before. We will get through this, we will pull ourselves back together and next week we will be open for business as usual because that is what we do.

"It [the abbey] is a small incline but monks knew what they were doing when they built that place. But at times like this it feels like the abbey is a bit like Noah's Ark in the midst of a flood plain. It is a place where we can be a beacon for the community, a place of prayer for the community and a place where we can cherish creation as a fragile gift. If we can all do a bit more of that we might see a little less of this."

Wiltshire village almost cut off

BBC

Residents in West Overton near Marlborough in Wiltshire say the village is almost completely cut off apart from one small back road - all main routes into the area are blocked.

'At least 22 homes flooded in Tewkesbury'

Ben Birchall

A Tewkesbury Borough Council spokesman said they were aware of at least 22 properties being flooded but could not confirm how many people had chosen to leave their homes due to flooding.