KEY POINTS:
LONDON - Three people have been killed and hundreds forced to evacuate their homes as torrential rainstorms sweep Britain.
A man in his 20s died after becoming trapped while helping his grandfather clear a flooded drain in Hull.
Local media also reported that a 68-year-old man was swept to his death as he got out of his car in Sheffield, Yorkshire.
Later, officers said they had recovered a body from the River Sheaf in Sheffield hours after a teenage boy was rescued after being swept away in the same area by the surging waters.
RAF helicopters had to be scrambled to rescue people from rooftops in the city, television pictures showed.
Severe flood alerts were issued on 15 rivers, mainly in the north and east of England while experts warned that more than 200 others posed a potential risk.
The first day of the Wimbledon tennis fortnight was also badly disrupted with 10 matches cancelled and others including Tim Henman's opener halted.
Meanwhile, police handed out thousands of emergency foil blankets to Glastonbury revellers whose journey home was delayed by mud and rain.
Tractors were called to the southwest festival site to tug out some of the 40,000 cars that had sunk into the mud.
More than 120,000 people at the festival were injured as of Sunday, mostly with sprains and bruises from slipping in the mud.
In Humberside, sewage overflowed and manholes floated away as three inches of rain fell and emergency services were called to deal with hundreds of cases of flooding.
Two helicopters were scrambled from RAF Kinloss to look for a man trapped in his car by rising floodwaters on the A1079 near Bishop Burton.
A woman was rescued on the M62.
Hull City Council urged against non-essential travel.
A spokesman said: "We are appealing to people to please keep off the roads and stay indoors for your own safety."In Louth, Lincolnshire, passers-by held on to a bridge to pull a youngster from the River Lud after hearing his screams for help.
One of the rescuers was nearly swept away with the boy before he was carried to safety.
With much of England and Wales having received twice the average monthly rainfall for June, rivers were running dangerously high.
The Environment Agency issued 15 severe warnings - mostly in the North and East.
Among them were the Humber, Aire, Bain, Don and the Louth Canal.
Warnings were also issued in connection with more than 200 rivers in the Midlands, East Anglia, London, the South East and the South West.
As the Met Office issued severe weather warnings across the country experts blamed the heavy rain, flash floods and thunderstorms on sluggish jet stream winds and persistent low pressure.
Paul Knightley of MeteoGroup said: "Anything that gets caught by the weather does not have the jet stream to move it along and gets held up in the loop. When the jet stream doesn't push weather systems along, that causes rain and thunderstorms."
Forecasters said the rest of the week would offer some respite from the deluge although further rain was likely at the weekend and into next week.
A Met Office spokesman said: "The rest of the week should be fairly dry but the outlook is still unsettled."
Meanwhile, much of the country suffered and the British Chamber of Commerce said disruption could cost up to 400 million pounds.
An emergency shelter was set up in Leeds after 70 homes were flooded.
In Gloucestershire 50 children were rescued after a bus became stranded in a huge puddle in Lydney in the Forest of Dean.
Fire crews in Tewkesbury were mobilised to rescue 40 sheep stuck in a river while 70 animals were stranded at a kennel in Gloucester.
In South Yorkshire motorists abandoned vehicles as roads flooded and police reported grid-locked traffic in Sheffield.
In east Devon a motorist had to be taken to hospital after a tree fell on his vehicle on the A377 road near Exeter.
Homes in the north Devon town of Bideford were hit by two feet of flood water.
A degree ceremony at Cambridge, where recipients included former United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix and artist David Hockney, was also hit.
Meanwhile, the rain added to the difficulties of thousands of music fans who had stayed a final night at Glastonbury.
Police handed out 3,000 space blankets to keep fans warm as they waited to be picked up by coaches.
Tractors were called in to deal with dozens of cars and camper vans stuck in the mud.
It also emerged on Monday that Shirley Bassey, who wowed Sunday night's festival crowd with a typically glamorous performance, had herself suffered a weather-related problem on her way home.
The helicopter she was travelling in was forced to land in appalling conditions in a school field in Camberley.
Dozens of residents came out to watch the drama and described how the Diva of Tiger Bay was offered tea and asked to use one homeowner's bathroom.
She continued to a dinner date at the Dorchester by car.
Camberley resident and lifelong fan Rosella Tew, 68, said: "She was quite calm and I could not believe how down to earth she was.
"I always expect these big stars to be all snooty but she was not, she was so lovely." She added: "I've always been a fan of Dame Shirley."
- INDEPENDENT
