BIBLICAL rain brought further flooding and disruption to the Forest and Wye Valley areas, as the appalling weather continues to bring misery to the area.

Villages in the Wye Valley suffered the second major flood from the River Wye this winter, starting on Sunday, forcing local residents to try and move their possessions above the potential influx into their homes.

The Courtfield Arms in Lower Lydbrook saw the car park half covered in water as the Wye broke across the road, but landlady Paula Milton was stoical about the situation: "The basement has some water in it now, that I will have to get out, but I am planning to open as usual."

Further upstream towards Ross-on-Wye, single mother-of-two, Karla Mayhew, was forced to leave her home near Wilton on Tuesday morning and seek refuge with relatives, following the 'massive rush of water' and mud into her home, flowing off the fields at the back of her house, and which filled her kitchen floor to the depth of over a foot of slutch.

She told the Review: "This has ruined my kitchen and living room. It wasn't as if there was much notice of it going to do this. It must have reached a sort of critical level of water and soil on the slope behind the house, and then the whole lot came down in a rush. It was frightening."

Taking refuge upstairs with her son, Josh, aged four, she could only watch helplessly as the unending stream of mud poured through her cat flap and under the door.

"It was just like something out of a Hammer Horror film, just pouring in like a solid stream."

She declined having her photograph taken in the wake of the disaster, however, because: "That would sort of mark the event, which isn't something I want. I just want to get over this and forget it as soon as I possibly can."

Across Herefordshire and Monmouthshire there were extensive road closures due to flooding and fallen trees. Fire and rescue teams answered hundreds of calls from concerned people, mostly in search of sandbags or information on the river levels in their area.

Monmouth Comprehensive School suffered from some flooding, but has managed, so far, to remain open. Special arrangements have been made to bring students in by bus from Wyesham, due to the road being flooded. This arrangement will continue while the situation continues.

Speaking about the Monmouthshire County Council staff who have worked through the poor weather conditions, Cllr Bryan Jones, cabinet member for county operations, said: "Once again, our people have acted above and beyond the call of duty in keeping our communities safe and our transport network going, in the face of the wettest weather since records began.

"High winds have added to the challenge and we've also been gritting roads as temperatures have fallen."

He added: "I repeat my pledge that we will continue to support our communities for as long as these difficult conditions continue."

Fears that a storm surge on the Severn, combined with wind-blown tides, would cause further flooding along the banks have, until now, proved groundless.

But, areas within the Forest away from the rivers were also hit, with properties in Clearwell and Sling needing to be pumped out by crews working in atrocious conditions of driving rain and hail.

Drivers right across the region have faced challenging conditions in recent days, with the commute into Gloucester and Bristol proving very difficult as road closures restricted the roads network. Further problems have been reported as HGVs and buses rely on their sat nav systems to advise them of their routes, sometimes with chaotic results. Reports of an articulated lorry trying to turn right and travel up Hangerberry in Lydbrook told of gridlock in the village – as did a coach which became stuck trying to turn into the road to Ruardean beside the River Wye.

Meanwhile, the official weather forecast is again showing severe flood alerts, plus warnings that further storms are due in the coming days, with precipitation falling as rain, hail or snow, with the potential for further flooding. There is also the risk of ice on untreated surfaces as the temperatures plummet.