Flood Threat Looms As Heavy Rain Lashes UK

Warnings for wind and rain are in place, as a search is called off for a man who may have been swept into the sea in Devon.

Weather warnings are in place for large parts of the UK after heavy rain threatened to cause localised flooding.

Twenty flood alerts, which warn the public to be aware of possible flooding, are in place across the South East, the West, Midlands and Pembrokeshire in Wales.

One flood warning, which means flooding is expected, is in place for the River Solva in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Nearly 20mm of rain fell in Katesbridge, Co Down, while Bodmin Moor in Cornwall saw gusts of 57mph (91kph) overnight.
Wind speeds of nearly 100mph (160kph) were also recorded at Berry Head in Devon on Thursday.

 Is Somerset Ready For Fresh Floods?

During the poor weather, a member of the public in Devon reported seeing an elderly man being swept away at Torquay.
The witness described seeing large waves crash over the sea wall along Meadfoot Sea Road and seeing a man briefly before he disappeared from view at around 9.30pm on Thursday.
The Torbay Coastguard rescue team, two lifeboats from Torbay along with a RAF search and rescue helicopter conducted extensive searches of the area but nothing was found and the search has been called off.
A Coastguard spokesman said: "Weather conditions on scene are described as poor, with 1.5m swell and a strong onshore wind.
"Unless any new information comes to light, the search has been stood down."

 Waves Batter Trains In Dawlish

Coping stones were also reportedly knocked loose in a sea wall at Dawlish, Devon, which was repaired at a cost of £35m earlier this year after high seas washed away part of the main train line that runs along the coast.
A Network Rail spokesman told the Western Morning News the damage was "the kind of thing we deal with at Dawlish everyday".
Meanwhile, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency said it is expecting further heavy rain in Tayside, Angus and Aberdeenshire on Friday and into the weekend.
Many areas have seen heavy rainfall over the last few days, increasing the likelihood of floods.
The Somerset Levels, one of the areas hardest hit last winter, is among the areas where an alert is in place despite a £6m dredging programme on the River Parrett. The area is expected to be hit by more rain on Friday.

Can Somerset Avoid A Flood Repeat?

The Met Office has issued yellow severe weather warnings for rain in Northern Ireland, south and west Wales, southwest England, southeast England and much of Scotland.
Sky News weather presenter Nazaneen Ghaffar said: "There is a band of rain across most places, bringing some rather heavy and sometimes persistent downpours of rain.
"The rain band is also accompanied by strong winds, we could see gusts anywhere from 50mph to 70mph as a maximum, and they will be spreading their way north and eastwards with those bands of rain.
"With the recent amount of rainfall there could be the risk of localised flooding across eastern Scotland."
A band of heavy rain and strong winds hit the area on Thursday, with a second band of heavy rain expected later on Friday.

Flood Warning Over Risky Defences

Areas including Tayside, Angus, Dundee and Aberdeenshire are at a continued risk of flooding.
The Met Office said earlier this week that the latest three-month outlook suggests there is an increased risk of milder and wetter than average conditions for November, December and January.