Right, part one complete!

It was amazing to see so many people ready and willing to help today: Community Wardens, Parish Councils, City Councils, Kent County Council, The EA, Kent Fire & Rescue, St. John Ambulance, Kent Police, The British Red Cross, and....the Red Lion Pub, who's car park became the rendevous point, and who's toilets were in constant use! (plus they had fresh coffee on the go all the time  ).

I managed to get a good chat with the BBC news crew, to give them some idea on our role both here and elsewhere. Local BBC did a piece on the Red Cross, so hopefully that'll make it to air.

We're now of course, looking to see what tonight and tomorrow bring....

Not sure why people were saying Wednesday's rain wasn't as bad as expected. We had 20mm+ from that event which was more than forecast. Areas further south and east had 35mm+.

The River Blackwater here is currently about 60cm above normal but still about 25cm short of the levels reached in July 2007.

A couple of pics from this afternoon in rare sunshine:

The ford at New Mill, Eversley. Normally the river is confined to the space under the footbridge in the distance!

Mill Farm in Yateley. Water well over the lawns and it wouldn't take much more of a rise to be flooding the house.

In Eversley a big tree has come down and smashed through the railings of the bridge by the Tally Ho, for those who know that area. The pub appeared to be open still although half the car park and garden are under water...

http://expert-images.weatheronline.co.uk/daten/proficharts/en/euro4/2014/02/07/basis12/ukuk/rsum/14020812_0712.gif

7-14mm here for the SW'rn third. Moderate for the most part I'd say. Then yes, only light accumulations of 3-5mm for the rest of England.

http://expert-images.weatheronline.co.uk/daten/proficharts/en/euro4/2014/02/07/basis12/ukuk/rsum/14020912_0712.gif

5-10mm possible from Sunday's showers for many, but considerably more than that across a fair part of Devon and Cornwall and a substantial amount for Wales - some 25mm or so.

The showery element is highly uncertain, of course. Recent westerlies have not tended to deliver much here in Reading, but each airmass differs in terms of moisture and lapse rates so you can never really be sure what to expect exactly.

GFS serves up more misery, and even the threat of heavy transient wet snow overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, but the main theme is rain rain rain.  And wind. Above is the accumulated rainfall chart. OK for some  NE districts, again.

Off topic a bit, and maybe this needs a seperate thread or it's not worth discussing

Might seem a daft question too, but does anyone think we need more reservoirs?

I ask this because my gut feeling again is the weather may swing back more severely the other way and we end up again like the year before last with water shortages.

It's still fresh in my mind the worries discussed (Especially for the eastern side of the UK) of the desperation for rain, and it doesn't take long but several weeks without rain before we are back in to hosepipe bans again.

...and it could be why the EA are slow on the flood preventions or which is the worst of the two evils floods or drought

Just a thought and some idle Q's while I'm twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the dry weather to come back...

Wave heights a few miles west of Lands End showing a dramatic rise this morning. Seems to be already higher than Wednesday.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=62107&unit=M

http://magicseaweed.com/Sevenstones-Lightship-Wave-Buoy/61774/?start_format=04+Feb+2014&end_format=08+Feb+2014

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/riverlevels/136485.aspx?stationId=1074

Getting interestingly close to the highest 'recent' reading although some way to go to the highest ever. Think we had somewhere around 10mm for the last 24 hours here so levels will stay high for a while but should drop off before the next bout of rain moves through.

Sunday:

Remaining very windy but winds should ease slightly through the day. Further bright spells and scattered showers, again heavy and possibly thundery in places and wintry over higher ground.

Outlook for Monday to Wednesday:

Winds should continue to ease on Monday, with brighter spells and scattered showers. Becoming very wet and windy again on Tuesday but probably becoming more showery for most on Wednesday.

Issued at: 0400 on Sat 8 Feb 2014

No mention of snow from the Met this week

The wind has become more gusty and beginning to darken after a sunny start...

No idea how much rain fell in East Kent last night - it was raining slightly when I went to bed, and hammering it down when I woke up around 6am this morning. So far, we've not been called out. However, the river at Bridge is back to yesterday's peak level (and very slightly higher), and we have been tasked to help there tomorrow morning at 8am.

Today is very much a waiting game, so see if levels rise in other areas. This gives an idea of the potential so far:

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/riverlevels/136486.aspx?stationId=1139

That station is a few miles downstream from where we were yesterday.

The drive to Bridge from Thanet reveals a landscape of lakes that were once fields. Many minor roads already suffering badly - sadly, complete with turdheads who think it's fun to drive through floodwater in their 4x4s at high speed :-(

Watching the water bubbling through the road surface yeasterday, was one of the most mind-blowing effects I've ever seen from UK weather. Worse, is that it's sewage contaminated water!

Some (as always) pooh pooh these weather events if they don't witness it first hand, but I can tell you in places like Bridge, it's a very real crisis. God knows what it must be like in some of the worse areas like Somerset/Devon/Cornwall etc!

Does this count as extreme - current pressure here is 955mb

I grew up in East Kent and don't remember any flooding like that being seen at the moment. In fact what I remember most is that the fords along Old Palace Road near Patrixbourne were almost always dry, it was very rare for there to be water in them. 

I've just had a look at the gauging station data at Littlebourne on the Little Stour at it is at 0.7m.  The highest recorded flood before this was 0.25m.  It's almost three times higher than the highest recorded level

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/riverlevels/136486.aspx?stationId=1139

Rain predictions for here have been going down steadily the last few days with 12mm in week one and 6mm in week two - near normal.

Strong gusty winds here and wet.

http://www.meteox.com/h.aspx?r=&jaar=-3&soort=satradar

Some squally wet conditions brewing in the channel and heading for SE corner.  More disturbances further N and W too.