A woman was found dead in a flooded river and a man was washed away as torrential rain and gale force winds lashed southern Wales and England overnight.
The woman's body was found in an upturned car in the rain-swollen river at Crediton in Devon, southwest England, after witnesses saw it crashing through a bridge wall.
A man travelling with her was washed away. Coastguard officers scrambled a helicopter to help with the search and were patrolling the river bank.
Britain's Environment Agency issued 140 flood warnings Friday and emergency services were stretched to the limit as two inches of rain fell overnight on already waterlogged ground.
At the height of the storm west Wales was practically cut off from the rest of the country when two major roads into the region were closed by flooding.
Several people had to be rescued from their cars after being trapped in rising waters, and residents of 13 houses in Cardiff were evacuated when high winds fanned flames from a blaze in a nearby derelict building.
Coastguards and police rescued a man stuck to his waist in mud at a flooded caravan park in Devon, southwest England. They also called in a helicopter to help evacuate more than 30 people, including many pensioners, from the site.
High winds forced the closure of the major Severn Crossing near Bristol in southwest England.
The weather left the region struggling to cope with transport chaos.
Some railway lines were closed by landslides or fallen trees and one train was derailed, without injury.
Heavy rains in Dorset, southwest England, led to the River Frome bursting its banks, while homes in several areas of Hampshire, southern England, were also hit.
The Automobile Association warned the situation was "quite treacherous for drivers."
In Northern Ireland, police said the persistent rain forced the evacuation of an old people's home on the outskirts of east Belfast.
The storms were expected to sweep northward during Friday.
Britain was also lashed by storms in late October and early November which caused widespread damage and contributed to the deaths of 13 people -- LONDON (AFP)
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