River Severn flooding: Water levels expected to get higher after Storm Franklin

The Environment Agency issued the the warning in Bewdley as water spilled out of the swollen River Severn and into the Worcestershire town on Monday, after Storm Franklin became the third storm to roll into the region in a matter of days.

People were forced to evacuate their homes due to extremely high river levels and businesses were battered as Storm Franklin rolled in across the region.

Residents at Beales Corner were told they had to leave as concerns mounted the River Severn would go over the emergency flood barriers. By Monday evening the river level was reported at 4.68m, much higher than the regular 3.28m.

It came as part of a string of disruption and incidents across the region yesterday which saw trees crashing down onto pubs, houses, and even onto cars.

The damage even caused one pub – the Bell and Bear Inn on Gorsty Hill Road in Rowley Regis – to close down after a large tree came crashing down on Sunday.

And there is currently no timescale for when it will be able to reopen once again as the manager of the pub waits to hear back from owners about the issue.

Meanwhile experts from the Environment Agency have warned there was a potential for "significant river flooding" along the River Severn for several days.

They predicted the temporary barriers installed at Beales Corner would "exceed their capacity and over-top" today as they issued a threat to life warning.

Among those told to evacuate was Stuart Birch, who works as a chef at Wolverhampton Wanderers and has been living in Bewdley for the last three-and-a-half years with his family.

The 34-year-old said: "It's flooded the last two years in a row, so this will be the third year it's happened. We were dreading the rainy months and we were saying we've had a mild water, so it didn't seem too bad and then you see the river levels rising and it's really worrying – especially when you've got a young baby in the house.

"We've got the sandbags (at the house) and we'll probably come back here (afterwards) and hope for no damage. Thankfully, there wasn't much damage the past two times but this is meant to be a metre higher and if that's the case we'll see us get a bit of damage I think."We've got a two-year-old and that's our main worry. The first time it flooded, she was a couple of months old and we made a decision a few days beforehand to go. The second year she had just gone one and it was an absolute nightmare during that, but someone put us up in a holiday home.

"The community always comes together when this happens. People are helping each other and it's really nice to see, but when you have to leave it's really uncomfortable and inconvenient – but we have to."

Elsewhere, the likes of Dudley Zoo and Castle along with Forge Mill Farm were among attractions in the region to close as the storm brought gusts of around 40mph.

One couple in Wolverhampton were trapped in their homes because of a tree being brought down, whilst another had their extension ruined after a wall came crashing down into it – as two people in a Mercedes had a lucky escape after a tree came down on it.