60year Old Man Dies After Floods Sweep Him Away

Glenn Chambers carries the Olympic Torch through rain in Mansfield

A man has died after being swept away by floodwater in Shropshire, West Mercia Police have said.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms have battered parts of central and northern England.

Police said the man, who was in his 60s, was trying to walk through fields near the village of Bitterley when the water swept him off his feet.

The maths teacher was found 100 metres downstream after an extensive search involving police, fire crews and the Severn Area Rescue Association.

Shaun Baker from Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service told Sky News: "We had two fire appliances, a boat rescue unit and an incident commander mobilised to the scene who all arrived on the scene and were trying to locate where he was.

"With good liaison with the police helicopter, the police team on the ground and the fire service they did manage to locate the casualty but unfortunately he was actually trapped by a tree and was being forced under the water by the power of the water."

Earlier Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service rescued a 90-year-old man from his vehicle following downpours in the Bridgnorth area of the county.

The man was checked over by paramedics but was unhurt after floodwater rose around three feet around his car on the A454 at Worfield.

West Mercia Police said the road was closed in both directions and urged drivers to "take it easy" in waterlogged areas.

People in Newcastle reported "biblical" scenes with black skies and thunder storms.

As the evening rush hour got under way, roads around the city were under water.

The National Rail Enquiries twitter feed reported: "Flooding and landslips are causing heavy delays on routes between Northern England and Scotland, with very limited travel options".

Hail stones in Belton, Nottinghamshire

Flooding forced Newcastle railway station to close and severe problems on the Tyne and Wear Metro service.

Newcastle City Council said it would use the hashtag #toonflood on its messages about how the storm was affecting the area.

Herefordshire Council said a number of roads across the county were submerged, with severe localised flooding affecting Orleton, Brimfield, Yarpole and Kingsland.

The Environment Agency urged people to be on alert for more flash flooding across the Midlands and northern England as the Met Office forecast outbreaks of torrential rain across many central and northern parts of the country.

There is a continued risk of surface water flooding this afternoon and into the evening if drainage systems are overwhelmed by rainfall.

There are seven flood warnings in place for the Midlands, and 48 less serious flood alerts across the Midlands, the north east and the north west of England.

In parts of Leicester huge hail stones have been photographed and there has been further flooding.

Flooding has also hit Ireland, where more than 50 homes and many businesses were flooded and several thousand left without power after 50mm of rain fell in a seven-hour period across Cork.

And there were fears in Northern Ireland that overnight flooding which swamped Belfast could be repeated today.

Further downpours are forecast, as thousands struggle to clean up damage caused by flooding across the city and parts of County Antrim.

Emergency services reported receiving more than 700 call-outs linked to flooding in Belfast, while the region's water authority said it handled nearly 3,000 flood calls, and 1,000 homes were hit by power cuts.