Britain blanketed: Roads turn to rivers and flood warnings across the country as month's worth of rain set to fall in a day

• Environment Agency extends flood alerts to 98 and issues five full warnings
• Yorkshire, the North East, the Midlands and East Anglia are worst-hit
• Experts say risk of flooding is the highest yet this year
• Twisting funnel cloud spotted in the skies over Somerset
• Music festival in Leeds cancelled due to safety concerns over the weather
• Prince Charles gets his shoes muddy at Peterborough event

By Kerry Mcqueeney

PUBLISHED: 08:06 GMT, 6 July 2012 | UPDATED: 19:04 GMT, 6 July 2012

Roads turned to rivers and parts of the UK were placed under a severe weather warning today, as forecasters predicted up a month's worth of rain could fall in just 24 hours.

As these astonishing images show, the A77 Bellfield interchange, in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, was turned in to a roadside waterfall as rain from the flyover above flooded on to the dual carriageway below.

Scotland was just one of several regions in the UK to hit by torrential downpours now sweeping the country.

The water highway: The A77 Kilmarnock's Bellfield interchange flooded by water coming from the A76 above

Communities in the north and east of England, the Midlands and much of Wales were warned by the Environment Agency to brace themselves for flooding as two bands of very heavy rain were set to cross the UK today and into tomorrow.

The Environment Agency said the areas most likely to be hit by severe flooding include Derbyshire, Lancashire, South and West Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Greater Manchester, Blackburn, Blackpool, Warrington, Cheshire and Halton.

In the face of today's rain, the Environment Agency this afternoon extended its number of flood alerts to 98 and issued five full warnings.

The agency also warned of surface water flooding when drains become overwhelmed by too much rain. The public has been warned to take care near floodwater and not to take risks walking or driving through floods.

And The torrential rain that swept across Britain turning rivers to swollen torrents claimed one notable victim today - the Prince of Wales' shoes.

Deluge: A map showing the rain-hit areas. Huge parts of the UK are under a flood warning

FULL STORY & MANY PICS: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2169586/UK-weather-Severe-f...