Up-to-date flood warnings | Predicted rainfalls across UK

The Environment Agency is warning water levels could continue to rise after six people were left dead and hundreds forced from their homes by autumnal storms.

The North East is the region most seriously hit by the weather, although flash floods have also hit parts of Yorkshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Forecasters have predicted the rain will continue to fall in parts of Britain, especially the east coast, but said it would consist of random showers rather than the persistent rain of recent days.

Some areas have suffered a month’s rainfall in 24 hours, with tragic consequences.

In Stroud, Gloucestershire, emergency services had to battle to recover the body of a workman killed in a mud-slide after a trench collapsed in torrential rain. The 27-year-old, from nearby Cheltenham, was buried under the mud and police declared him dead at the scene.

A 17-year-old girl from Thamesmead, in London, died when the 4x4 vehicle she was in overturned and plunged into a swollen river in Powys, mid-Wales, on Friday evening.

The Land Rover Discovery was part of a convoy of off-road enthusiasts attempting to cross a ford near the Llyn Brianne reservoir, but it was swept downstream by flood water. The driver and front-seat passenger managed to escape, but the teenager was trapped in the back. Eventually, the vehicle was towed on to land, where two off-duty paramedics who were on the trip attempted to administer first aid.

The group could not get a mobile phone signal because of the remoteness of the area, so one of the party had to drive for 30 minutes before finding help at a farmhouse.

The girl was airlifted to Bronglais hospital, in Aberystwyth, but died shortly after arriving. The other people in the Land Rover were treated for hypothermia.

In the northeast, a 42-year-old motorcyclist from Sheffield died after hitting a tree branch on the A66 near Darlington.

The weather was also blamed for causing a car accident in which a young couple were killed. Barry Rowe, 29, and Rebecca Hoynes, 30, died after their Subaru estate hit a grass bank and careered off the road in Plymouth, Devon, in heavy rain on Friday.

And North Yorkshire Police said a motorcyclist was killed when he was in collision with a fire engine responding to an emergency call near the village of Wilton, on the A170 between Scarborough and Pickering. Earlier in the day fire crews from North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service had been pumping out homes in the Pickering area after the local beck burst its banks.