Environment Agency issues 37 warnings of expected floods, with particular concerns about Somerset, Dorset and DevonShare your pictures of how the floods are affecting your area with us on our UK news Flickr group

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

People were warned not to wade or drive into flood water following the death of a man on the Berkshire-Hampshire border on Monday and an overnight alarm when a man was reported shouting for help in a flooded part of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

Fire and rescue boats were launched to search an area off the Gloucester Road in the town early on Tuesday but found nothing.

Police too are still investigating the report from a member of the public of a man shouting in a flooded area at around 2.30am.

Another man reported missing from a different part of the town in a separate incident was later found.

The fire brigade for the county warned people not to wade or drive into flood water, backing up a similar plea from Devon and Somerset rescue services who attended seven incidents in two days. There were fears that many parts of England and Wales faced further flooding on Tuesday after heavy rain continued to drench southern Britain following the wettest April since 1910, when records began.

The number of warnings and alerts fell during Tuesday morning, although there were still 33 warnings, where floods were expected, and 130 alerts, where flooding was possible, at noon.

Conditions around Tewkesbury, badly hit in the 2007 floods, were not expected to worsen over the next 48 hours, according to the fire service.

Sandbags were issued to homes most at risk and surface water covered much of the flood plain around the town.

Nearly half the flood warnings were in the south-west of England – which saw some of the heaviest overnight downpours.

The Environment Agency is continuing to check flood defences on rising rivers.

The Met Office warned of floods and difficult driving conditions but the rain in southern England was expected to ease later in the day. Northern areas faced far drier weather. But heavy rain will be back by late on Wednesday, say forecasters.

Swaths of the country remain in a state of drought after two dry winters and the government has said everyone must still save water while they can.