There are now 16 severe flood warnings in place for the River Thames and in parts of Somerset with  army and navy on standby to help.

The Environment Agency is warning that the risk of flooding to properties and other infrastructure is is likely to continue over the coming days.

There are 14 severe flood warnings in place along the River Thames from Datchet to Shepperton Green, including Ham Court and Chertsey, as river levels in the area are extremely high and are forecast to continue to rise through this afternoon (Sunday) and evening. A severe flood warning means that there is a risk to life.

The Thames Barrier closed again yesterday to protect communities to the west of the capital.

Two severe flood warnings remain in force, at Saltmoor and Northmoor, including Moorland, and for the A361, East Lyng to Burrowbridge, as flooding continues on the Somerset Levels.

Wettest January since 1776

England has seen the wettest December in 50 years in central southern and southeast England as well as the biggest east coast storm surge in 60 years, followed by the wettest January on record since 1766. With the ground already saturated, further rainfall is increasing flood risk across the country, especially in the south.

Environment Agency teams continued to be out in force across England this weekend, deploying demountable defences, repairing damaged coastal defences, deploying sandbags along riverbanks, clearing river blockages, monitoring water levels and sending out flood warnings. Environment Agency staff from across the country have been sent to provide support in affected areas.

At Chiswell in Dorset teams are being assisted by the armed forces to shore up sea defences that were damaged in last week’s storms. On the Somerset Levels demountable defences that were requisitioned from other parts of the country have been deployed to help protect homes at Fordgate and Northmoor.

Pete Fox, Head of Strategy and Investment at the Environment Agency, said the weather continued to be “hugely challenging”, with further wind and waves threatening the south west coast and even more rain threatening to cause flooding along the Thames and rivers across the south west, central and southern England.

"Every resouirce is available to local communities affected"

In a statement after last night’s Cobra Committee meeting chaired by the Prime Minister,  David Cameron said:

“As we continue to face these extraordinary weather events, I have made clear again in COBRA this afternoon that every resource is available to the local communities affected.”

“We will keep providing whatever immediate practical support and assistance is needed, whether that is extra pumps and sandbags; military support on the ground; emergency funds from the new £7 million severe weather assistance fund for local councils.”

The Prime Minister that as the Government  continued to work on a long-term solution to alleviate the risk of flooding, leading scientific and hydrological experts from the UK and abroad had met at Downing Street yesterday afternoon, to ensure it was drawing on the widest possible pool of scientific expertise.

The severe flooding has now become a highly political issue. Critical comments made by Eric Pickles, the stand-in floods minister, over the weekend accusing the agency of being driven by political correctness provoked Environment Agency chairman Lord Smith into a swift rebuttal.  Lord Smith said the real problem was government budget cuts and the Treasury’s "value for money" rules. Interviewed by Andrew Marr on the BBC  yesterday Eric Pickles said:

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Pickles, who has now been put in charge of the government's flood defence, said:

"We made a mistake, there's no doubt about that.We perhaps relied too much on the Environment Agency's advice.”

"I think we recognise now that we should have dredged and I think it's important now that we get on with the process of getting people back into their houses, and really do some serious pumping."

"I apologise unreservedly and I'm really sorry that we took the advice, we thought we were dealing with experts."

Lord Smith - "government rules by successive governments at  heart of the problem.”

In an article for the Guardian newspaper, Lord Smith said that over the past two and a half months, Britain has faced the most extreme series of weather events we have ever experienced. Commenting on plans in place to tackle the issue, he said:

“We have a forward programme of work, investing in new flood defences, in town and country, all over England.”

“And the substantial new funding announced this week by the government is really welcome – it will enable us to repair the damage that the winter storms have caused without eating into the money for new schemes to provide better protection for the future.”

“It's important, though, to realise a fundamental constraint on us. It's not only the overall allocation for flood defence work that limits what we can do. There is also a limit on the amount we can contribute to any individual scheme, determined by a benefit-to-cost rule imposed on us by the Treasury.”

“Take, for example, the highly visible issue of the dredging of the rivers on the Somerset Levels. The Environment Agency put £400,000 on the table to help with that work – the maximum amount the Treasury rules allowed us to do. The additional funds from other sources that would be needed didn't come in.”

“So when politicians start saying it's Environment Agency advice or decisions that are to blame, they need to realise that it's in fact government rules – laid down by successive governments, Labour and Tory – that are at the heart of the problem.”