After winds, rain and floods comes ice

Flood waters inundate the area as one house stands alone near the flooded village of Moorland in Somerset, southwest England. Photo / AP

Three people have died in the latest storms across Britain, but as they finally ease the Met Office warns the country will be gripped by ice.

A cruise ship passenger died when 130km/h winds whipped up huge waves in the English Channel and a woman minicab driver was killed when part of a building collapsed onto her car in central London.

Bob Thomas, 77, died in hospital yesterday after being hit by a tree in his garden near Caernarfon, North Wales.

A pregnant woman and her unborn baby died in a crash in Wales and police are investigating whether a mother found unconscious in her Edinburgh garden could have frozen to death after being locked out.

After weeks of heavy rain in Hemel Hempstead, northwest of London, a giant 10m sinkhole opened up, forcing the evacuation of 17 properties.

More than 30 people had to be rescued by emergency services and the army from a seafront restaurant in Milford on Sea, Hampshire, after windblown shingle shattered windows and the sea flooded it.

But as the rain and the winds eased, the Met Office issued a yellow warning for ice across the entire country today.

In the northeast United States, another round of snow fell as people were digging their way out from earlier storms.

Snow began falling in Boston and New England was expected to be hardest hit by the latest blast.

The National Weather Service says up to 35.5cm of snow is expected in eastern Massachusetts. Connecticut could see 20cm to 25cm along its Rhode Island border. New York City's Central Park took 3.8cm of new snow after getting nearly 30cm of snow on Saturday.

The newest storm was expected to bring blizzard conditions along the Massachusetts coast.

- additional reporting AP