Reacting to flash flooding and warnings of more heavy rain, Paul de Zylva, campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said:

“Heavy rain and flash flooding are likely to become more frequent as a result of climate change.

“We desperately need a period of sustained rainfall to help restore the UK’s dry and wildlife depleted rivers and reservoirs and protect our food supplies, but the ground is so parched that heavy rain will have difficulty soaking in and will instead wash away soils and cause flooding.

“The government, and next Prime Minister, must do more to protect people by adapting our homes and infrastructure to extreme weather and take the bold action needed to help avert the worst of climate breakdown.”