UK flood: 4 killed, 800 homes hit so far

Floods unseen in half a century have wreaked havoc across southern Britain killing four people so far and leaving 816 homes swamped in surging water since storms hit the area on Wednesday.

A fallen tree due to floods and storm killed a 21-year-old woman in Exeter on Saturday night while a 70-year-old man also lost his life when his car plunged into a swollen river in Cambridgeshire.

Another man died after he got trapped in his 4×4 that was wedged under a bridge in Chew Stoke, Somerset on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, the body of a 50-year-old man was recovered from a canal in Watford, Hertfordshire, after he disappeared in heavy fog in the early hours of Saturday morning.

This comes as high winds, now leaving south and heading for the Midlands, have put some 300 areas in England, Wales and even in Scotland on flood alert.

The floods have been especially costly for residents of the village of Kempsey in Worcestershire that paid £1 million for a pumping system after major floods in 2007 but the systems simply did not work.

The mayor of Malmesbury in Wiltshire, where the town center is awash with one meter-deep flood waters, has described the deluge as the worst in 70 years.

Malmesbury has not been the worst-hit area with reports putting the depth of flood waters in the village of Millbrook, Cornwall at more than 1.5 meters.