Flooding In England

Andy Summers checks on his neighbors Lucy and Harry Beale in their home in Upton upon Severn Wednesday, July 25, 2007, in Gloucestershire, England. Flooding has caused widespread disruptions across the country with more regions bracing for more floods.

A rescued cat is carried through flood water by an RSPCA animal collection officer in Oxford, England, Wednesday July 25, 2007. Rising flood waters drove dozens of people out of their homes in Oxford as the surge from Britain's worst floods in 60 years continued its slow progress down the Thames valley.

Army tucks carrying bottled water wait to depart Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham, England, where an emergency water depot has been established Wednesday July 25, 2007. The lack of clean water in flood-stricken areas raised growing concerns today about sanitation and health. Nearly 350,000 people have been told they will not have access to water in their homes for up to two weeks.

Tea And Buckets — AP Photo/Anthony Devlin, PA

Residents Coyeta Brown, Sophie Pittaway and James Hilton, from left, have a cup of tea on their doorsteps in a flooded street close to the river Severn in Gloucester, England, Tuesday, July 24, 2007. Waters in Britain's worst flooding in 60 years started receding Tuesday, but some 350,000 people were still without drinking water after the deluge overwhelmed pumping stations.

High water passes underneath a bridge over the River Ock which flows into River Thames, at Abingdon, near Oxford, England, Tuesday, July 24, 2007. Emergency workers restored power to thousands of homes in western England Tuesday as water levels slowly receded. Water levels peaked on the River Thames in Oxford, but communities downstream were scrambling to prepare for surges in a few days' time.

Michelle Perry and her daughter Rebecca watch as water floods a street in Gloucestershire, England, a result of torrential weekend rains that caused severe disruptions throughout the United Kingdom.

The signs of flooding are everywhere in England these days. A nation already known for its rainfall has experienced unusually heavy downpours over the past month, resulting in widespread flooding, which reportedly could cause an estimated $4 billion worth of damage. Rescue workers have fanned out across the country, such as here in Upton-Upon-Severn.

A housing development under construction in Oxford, England, offers an ironic sign of the times: Thousands of occupied homes have been evacuated. More than 48,000 homes in the counties of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire in western England were left without electricity after a flooded power station had to be shut down. Some 350,000 are expected to be without fresh water, due to flooding of a water-processing plant.

The hardest-hit area is Gloucestershire, where this car was flooded. Transportation throughout the country is a daily struggle, with roads flooded and train routes suspended.

A trailer park in Evesham, England, is flooded, just a few of the thousands of homes have already been evacuated because of the flooding.

Amanda Green surveys the damage to her pub, the Canterbury Arms, which she has been unable to open.

A fire rescue boat extracts a resident from a home in Evesham.

Some rescues were more difficult, such as this resident who was airlifted from her home in Evesham ...

... and taken up in the air by a Royal Air Force Sea King helicopter.

Mother and son look at empty shelves in a supermarket in Tewkesbury, where the flooding has caused widespread disruption.

The British are preparing for more flooding, with these residents of Standlake, a village near Oxford, loading sandbags into a wheelbarrow to fortify their homes against the rising tide. The Thames River is expected to flood the village where they live. Some five inches of rain fell on Friday alone, and more is expected this week.