Flood warnings were put in place today as Britain braced itself for sustained and torrential downpours forecast to washout the weekend - some areas are expecting up to a month of rain in a single day.

South western England will be the first to succumb to the heavy rain which will be accompanied by winds of up to 50 miles per hour.

The first major rainstorm of the autumn will mark the end of a miserable summer by sweeping up through Wales and the Midlands before settling over the North-East for the rest of the weekend.

A Met Office spokeswoman said there may be glimpses of sun in between the heavy showers but that Britain will have to wait until Monday for any real let up.

“There’s going to be a good old blow and plenty of rain. Some parts of the country will see almost a month’s worth of rain,” she said.

The clouds will come to a halt over the Pennines, Northumberland and the North Yorkshire Dales from around midday tomorrow where in excess of 50 millimetres of rain is expected.

From midnight tonight the band of rain will arrive in the south of the country. Michael Dukes, forecast manager of MeteoGroup, said: “Cornwall will be hit first tonight, and then the rain will move across the country tomorrow.

“After a soggy August the ground is already saturated and, with such large amounts of rain likely to fall in under 24 hours, there is a high risk of localised flooding.

“Strong winds will add to the misery with gusts over 50mph in some exposed southern and western areas, although it’s the torrential rain that is likely to be the bigger hazard.”

Thousands of people heading to see Amy Winehouse and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry at Bestival, the last music festival of the summer held on the Isle of Wight, are likely to be drenched by sustained rain as it moves east as well as north.

Gloucestershire could be the worst hit by floods after rain last night brought initial flash floods ahead of the further rain expected overnight and into tomorrow.

Downpours last night and this morning led to road closures in the county and firefighters had to pump out floodwater from homes today.

Residents are now preparing for the possibility of more flooding after forecasters predicted downpours to continue throughout the night and into the morning as the South West feels the brunt of a storm coming in from the Atlantic.

The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for the region until tomorrow evening.

Gloucestershire County Council has put services on high alert after learning from the lessons of the major floods which wreaked havoc throughout the county in July last year.

After spending the day clearing away the water, they are now barricading their homes with sandbags.

Angus Cooper, 91, and his neighbours managed to save some of his possessions from the rainwater as it flooded his garage.

“This is the second time I have been flooded but we have managed to stop it coming into the house,” he said. “My neighbours have been excellent - they lifted the fridge off the floor to stop the food getting ruined like last time.

“I’m afraid to say that we are expecting it to be heavy again in the morning. We have sandbags but whether or not that will help we do not know."