Gloucestershire homes flooded after heavy rain

Parts of Tewkesbury, badly affected by flooding in 2007, are underwater again

Towns, villages and more than 20 roads have been badly affected by flooding in Gloucestershire.

Buildings in Lydbrook in the Forest of Dean have been flooded while Over, near Gloucester, has also been affected.

Firefighters are at Shuthonger, near Tewkesbury, pumping out water and the fire service said it was also getting a lot of calls from the Cirencester area.

The M50 between junctions two and four is closed, while lanes of the M5 have been flooded near Stroud.

Gloucestershire County Council said motorists should avoid or delay travelling where possible.

The fire service has been called to incidents in locations such as the Forest of Dean

The service said it was also dealing with a number of flooding incidents in Stroud.

In Tewkesbury, fire officers arrived on Sunday morning to try to prevent a row of bungalows from being flooded.

Crews also dealt with a blocked culvert nearby and said they were likely to be on the scene for "some time".

Steve Llewellyn helped to rescue his parents from their flooded home in Upper Lydbrook.

"My dad's in his 70s and he's never seen anything like it, he's never had water in the house before," he said.

"It's just freak, there's nothing you can do about it. You can't prepare for it."

Engineers from Gloucestershire Highways worked to help drain many of the county's roads which were affected by flooding.

A Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said anyone needing sandbags could pick them up from district or borough council offices.

She added rest centres were on standby overnight into Monday should they be needed.

Flood warnings remain in place for more than 200 rivers across the south west of England.

Other road closures on Sunday included the A38 between Cross Keys and Whitminster, the A40 Over to Highnam and the A46 between Nailsworth and Stroud.

The A435 at Bishop's Cleeve was also impassable and the A417 near Lechlade was closed.

A highways spokesman said: "Our main message is to please avoid driving through any flood water."

Several lanes on the M5 near Stroud were closed due to flooding