24th September - Today's News: Lucky Escape for Some After Record Rainfall and Flash Flooding in Parts of England

At one point the environment agency's model was predicting river levels in Evesham to hit 4.4m today - as it happens it doesn't look like going over 2m which is only just above the "normal" range.   Whilst flash flooding has hit many places, given the number of locations that recorded record rainfall - well over 100mm in less than 24 hours (108.8mm at Woburn on Sunday, 108.0mm at South Newington on Monday were the highest official totals, but many PWS recorded much higher totals.   Over 80mm in 48 hours for Evesham, which is still the highest since July 2007 - unfortunately my PWS was playing up and I don't have an exact figure but I had 39mm on Sunday before it stopped recording and 30mm in the manual gauge from 9am on Monday ) - I think some places may have escaped a bullet, thanks to the ground being quite dry after the summer.

Obviously, not everyone was as lucky as devastated Brits sweep away floodwater from ruined homes after month of rain deluged Britain - and some rivers like the Thames may continue to rise over the next few days.   But I do think it could have been much worse.

Meanwhile, rain records tumble in outback Australia as September soaking moves southeast#

Cannes hit by flash flooding with more severe storms possible

Hurricane John makes landfall in Mexico as major category 3 storm

And Southeast US under major storm warning as hurricane watches issued