Large parts of Britain remain flooded and experts are warning the chaos could continue until Tuesday.

There were 53 flood warnings from the Environment Agency (EA) in effect on Sunday evening, meaning flooding was expected and immediate action required. A further 89 flood alerts where possible flooding may occur had also been issued.

The rivers Severn and Avon have burst their banks, leaving properties waterlogged in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, while residents in the Midlands and Yorkshire were still battling to clear their homes.

But despite some areas enduring their “wettest ever autumns”, much-needed relief from heavy rainfall has been forecast for flood-hit areas in the coming days.

Although river levels in some areas remain high, the Met Office said it had not issued any weather warnings as drier weather approached.

An image posted on Twitter shows the River Severn bursting its bank in Bewdley, Worcestershire. Photograph: @Cat_Phillips/PA

In a forecast of the flooding risk in England and Wales, the EA said: “River flooding is expected to continue in the lower River Don washlands area in South Yorkshire through to at least Tuesday, where properties will continue to flood and there will be continued travel disruption.”

Communities in parts of central and northern England continued the cleanup after being overwhelmed with water following torrential rain in recent days.

The EA for Yorkshire and the north-east said there was still lots of flood water in the region, and a pumping operation was under way to reduce water levels.

In an online message, Martin Christmas of the EA, said: “We are starting to think about moving from emergency rescue response into recovery and that means looking at our flood warnings and then starting to think about all the inspections we need to do to look at potential repairs for banks and flood assets based on the loading they have received from the water in the last week.

“We have still got tens of people out there in the field carrying on with pumping activity trying to get levels at Fishlake reduced and we are also keeping an eye on east Yorkshire as well.”

The Met Office said its Sheffield weather station had recorded its wettest ever autumn.

It tweeted: “With 15 days still to go, the site has already recorded 427.6mm of rain. The previous record was set in 2000 with 425.2mm of rain falling between September 1 and November 30 that year.”

There was also a risk of seeing a very cold start on Tuesday, according to Yeomans, with potential temperatures of -5C (23F).