Two inches of rain fell in one hour on Croydon, south London, while Brize Norton in Oxfordshire had three and a half inches of rain in two hours.

The rain swept up through France and pivoted over the Midlands, resulting in constant downpours for large parts of southern and central England and Wales.

An old people’s home in Gilling West, near Richmond, North Yorkshire, was evacuated, as were 30 other properties in the village after a beck burst its banks.

Five people trapped by flash flooding on the first floor of a building in Barry, south Wales, were rescued by dinghy.

The town was hit by floods up to eight feet deep, trapping people in cars, killing pets and wrecking homes. Taxi driver Paul Andresen watched in horror as water swept through his newly-decorated house in the town. “I had literally just painted the last stroke,” he said.

Train services between Oxford, London Paddington and Bristol were severely disrupted or cancelled. Virgin Cross Country  suspended services between Birmingham  and Gloucester.

Some London Under-ground stations were shut. The Environment Agency last night issued 68 flood warnings and two flood watches.

Bookies Ladbrokes last night slashed the odds of this month being the wettest July on record, from 2/1 to 1/7. The present record is for July 1988 with 5.7 inches of rain. This year there have been 2.7 inches of rain in the first half of July.

Met Office spokesman Barry Gromett said: “The record is 3.6 inches in one hour in Maidenhead in 1901, and I suppose this is one of the heaviest rainfalls since then.”

Two lanes were closed on the M25 motorway near Reigate, while one lane was closed on the M23 near Crawley. Flash flooding also affected the M4 near Reading, Berks. And landslips on the M40 and M4 motorways caused major delays.

A lorry driver escaped injury on the A31 near Alton, Hants, when his vehicle jack-knifed in floodwater. Many roads in the county were closed because of floods or fallen trees.

Worthing Hospital in West Sussex was swamped by 18ins of water. Tewkesbury Water Festival was among many weekend events which had to be cancelled.

The England and India test match at Lords was delayed by three hours after the outfield was flooded, but a soaked Zara Phillips continued to compete at horse trials in Oxfordshire.

The Duchess of Cornwall’s 60th birthday party at Highgrove today was in jeopardy as tradesmen abandoned their vehicles near Tetbury, Gloucs, after flooding made the A433 impassable.