Fourteen severe flood warnings are in place along a stretch of the river in Berkshire and Surrey, with police warning 2,500 Surrey homes are at risk. 

 

The Environment Agency is also warning of rising water in the Somerset Levels.

 

Forecasters said Monday would be the driest day of the week, but rivers could continue to rise as previous rainfall works its way downstream.

 

Several Thames gauges are currently showing their highest water levels since being installed in the 1980s and 90s.

 

The Environment Agency's 14 severe warnings - meaning "danger to life" - are for areas in and around Staines, Egham, Chertsey and Datchet.

 

Water levels there are expected to rise despite the fact that significant rainfall is not expected during the day.

 

Armed forces personnel were in the heavily populated area on Sunday night building a 2ft-high (60cm) defence to try to divert the river away from homes.

 

Howard Davidson, from the Environment Agency, said on Sunday: "The Thames is a big river and it responds to rainfall over many weeks - and the catchment（流域） is saturated². 

 

"We are seeing the Thames continue to rise and it will continue to do so, certainly over the next few days and we have further rain forecast over Tuesday and Wednesday." 

 

Two severe flood warnings remain in place in Somerset, and more than 300 less-serious warnings and alerts have been issued, mostly in southern England and the Midlands.

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