Downpours wreak transport havoc

A key London to Scotland rail route has reopened following the floods that have caused travel chaos and brought misery to many householders.

The clearing of the line between Newcastle upon Tyne and Berwick-upon-Tweed after a landslip meant the East Coast train company was able to run hourly services between London and Edinburgh.

The storms and heavy rain which afflicted large areas of the UK flooded various sections of the line and caused a landslip at Spittal, south of Berwick.

This deposited more than 40 tons of earth on to the track and washed away embankments supporting the line.

Southern England mainly escaped the bad weather on Thursday, but light rain on Friday delayed the start of the Wimbledon tennis championships and also held up play in the one-day cricket international between England and Australia at Lord's in London.

One area where rail services were still being disrupted was in the West Highlands following a freight train derailment between Tulloch and Corrour and a landslip between Ardlui and Arrochar.

The bad weather left many roads impassable, with Tyneside, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Cumbria just some of the areas where flooding affected motorists.

Northern Powergrid said around 3,000 customers were still without power following the storms - down from 23,000 last night.

The worst-hit areas included Consett, Whitley Bay, Prudhoe, Shiremoor and Stanhope.

A musical festival this weekend expected to attract more than 100,000 revellers - the Godiva Festival in Coventry's War Memorial Park - was cancelled due to the heavy rain.

Labour urged the Government to ensure flood-hit communities received funding to help with clean-up costs.

The Environment Agency said that the April to June period this year was the wettest on record across England and Wales.

England and Wales have already received more than double the long-term average rainfall for the month of June.