THE river levels in Worcester have ‘yet to peak’ with a significant amount of water still to come down the Severn in the next couple of days following heavy weekend rainfall.

Last night, the city centre was on the verge of grinding to a halt, with authorities ready to close roads as water continued to seep out of the river.

Much of England and Wales saw 36 hours of constant rain from Friday afternoon, with river levels in the city rising to their highest since the floods of February 2014.

Including both north and south Worcester, there were 82 flood warnings and 111 flood alerts in place across the UK yesterday morning.

Dave Throup, Environment Agency manager for Herefordshire and Worcestershire, said “there’s quite a lot still to come” – referring to vast amounts of water flowing down the Severn from Shrewsbury.

Speaking in Worcester city centre yesterday, he told us: “It’s not going to peak in Worcester today. All that water is imminent over the next two or three days.”

Mr Throup said he was working closely with colleagues from Worcestershire County Council’s highways department as they kept a “close eye” on the city centre roads.

With river water continuing to slowly spill out, Hylton and Tybridge were just two of a number that were at risk of closure.

“All we can do is keep a very close eye on it,” said Mr Throup. “Tybridge and Hylton are getting very close. If it does rise another 10 or 30cm [we will have to close the roads].”

He added, however, that despite the levels expected to keep rising for a matter of days, road closures were most likely on Monday or overnight into Tuesday.

Between Saturday morning and Sunday morning, the emergency services reportedly rescued 70 people from flood related incidents – 36 of which involved cars in flood water.

This was according to Michael Cadman, of Hereford and Worcester Fire Service, who also said extra control staff were drafted in over the weekend to help keep on top of the sheer volume of calls.

These included three people stuck in a car in Green Lane, Droitwich, on Saturday morning, which saw police officers and dogs, firefighters and an ambulance crew all mucking in to get them to safety.

Another incident saw a 17-year-old boy rescued from his car in Mill Bank, Fladbury, this morning, after it had been caught up in the floods.

Referring to driving through water, Mr Throup said: “Never do it, because not only are you putting yourself at risk but also the emergency services who come to save you.

“We have seen dozens of rescues over the weekend, some of them were life threatening stuff. People getting rescued from car rooves.”

He continued: “It's a crazy thing to do. I would warn people not to drive or walk through flood water. You can't see what's under the surface.

“Six inches of flowing water can float a car,” he added.

Yesterday, the city council warned motorists to park away from Pitchcroft car park, which had flooded.

While the annual fireworks display at the racecourse – due to be held on Saturday (November 2) – has had to be cancelled.

On Sunday night, one lane of the A449 at Powick roundabout was closed due to flooding from the River Teme.