Emergency services evacuated hundreds of homes in Oxford today as the River Thames broke its banks and Britain grappled with its worst floods in 60 years.
Water levels rose steadily overnight and police said they had cleared up to 250 homes and gave people shelter in Oxford City's soccer stadium. Some power was cut but the defences of the local electricity substation were not breached.
Along the Thames, residents in other towns were warned that the river could go on rising throughout the day.
A stranded car on top of sandbags in a car park in Oxford, where water levels rose rapidly overnight and are expected to increase further still during today.
In Gloucestershire, the county worst hit by the deluge, up to 350,000 people could be without running water for the next two weeks - but the flood waters have started to recede along the River Severn.
One power distribution station at Walham came perilously close to flooding with emergency services working frantically to shore it up as the water came within six inches of breaching defences.
That would have left up to 500,000 people without power and plunged hospitals, stores, shops and homes into chaos.
The flooding turned the historic market town of Tewkesbury into an island where only the 12th century abbey stood unscathed on high ground. Lifeboats scudded down the main street, boats moored in car parks.
While Britain struggled with floods, central and southeast Europe faced a heatwave. Up to 500 people are estimated to have died in Hungary as temperatures soared, and the heat also killed 12 Romanians.
A teenage boy is still missing in Tewkesbury, one man died in a flooded cellar and a woman trapped in the floods lost her premature newborn twins despite being rescued by a Royal Air Force helicopter.
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn warned the crisis was far from over and had "caused considerable human distress."
The government has promised £10 million in aid for the stricken areas - in addition to the £14 million initially pledged by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.