BRITAIN is on the biggest emergency relief effort since World War II as storms batter the country already reeling from weeks of relentless rain and flooding.
Even the Royal Family is joining efforts with Princes William and Harry yesterday joining the armed forces in filling sandbags and Buckingham Palace confirming the Queen is providing food and bedding for farmers about Windsor affected by floods.
The princes, dressed in waterproofs, worked from 6am (5pm AEST) in Berkshire helping bagging then formed part of a long human chain to unload them from an Army vehicle.
It’s a last ditch effort for flood defences as rain poured over much of the country yesterday.
More than 1000 homes in the Thames Valley were evacuated today ahead of the storm that has brought 140km/hr winds and record rain to the west of the country already reeling by a devastating Atlantic storm on Wednesday.
Already 6000 other homes had been evacuated along the Thames and Severn rivers, the latter of which has peaked at its highest level since records have been kept.
The Environment Agency today had 400 warnings in place in the country including 17 “severe” alerts where they have “identified risk to life”. Just on 70mm of rain fell in a day, the average for the whole month.
Sandbagging ... Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry help with flood defences around a school
The Army already has 2500 troops actively in the field helping to stem flooding and help evacuations but another 3000 soldiers were placed on a state of readiness for later today.
More than 360 troops from the 2 Royal Gurkha Rifles were sandbagging about Surrey, in London’s west and also erecting an artificial flood protection barrier.
Swedish technicians were advising how the barrier worked and when fully constructed will be more than 500m long.
Prime Minister David Cameron has confirmed 70 per cent of the country’s fire and rescue services were now battling floods, the biggest deployment since the Blitz of WWII.
They joined hundreds of general firefighters, council workers, police and rescue units and even relief workers brought back from typhoon recovery efforts in the Philippines to cope with what the government has now declared a national crisis.
An RAF Tornado jet fighter equipped with spy surveillance equipment yesterday joined efforts as it flew over the Thames Valley to map worst affected areas and those homes and whole villages expected to go under later today.
Underwater ... An amphibious rescue vehicle from Sweden helps out in Gloucester, western England.
Sentinel surveillance planes based further north in Lincolnshire.
Dutch flooding experts and giant pumps were also brought in to help move water that has left some homes in the UK flooded for four weeks; the village of Hambledon in Hampshire had been flooded for 40 days.
Amphibious vehicles were also today brought in from Sweden to help
move people out quickly from flooding areas.
“We just need to get through the next 24 to 48 hours,” a MET spokeswoman said yesterday.
The Environment Agency has 22 severe “risk to life” flood warnings in Thames Valley, Somerset and Gloucestershire, as well as 131 flood warnings across England and Wales and 246 flood alerts. Snow blizzard are also expected to hit Wales and Scotland tonight.
Preparing ... Residents have been forced to sandbag their homes as the river Severn rises to record heights in Gloucester, western England.
Prime Minister David Cameron said today: “Obviously, we are facing a very difficult time because we have got the wettest start to the year for 250 years and these are extraordinary weather events, but we are fighting on every front to help people.
“We have deployed the military, we have got thousands of sandbags being put around people’s houses, over 300,000 people had their electricity reconnected last night.”
He has called an emergency meeting to deal with the triple threat of floods, wind and snow.
Ten people have already died directly from the storms since January.
Water locked ... The cricket pavillion on Kings Fields is engulfed by floodwater in Worcester. 
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