Weather: worst September storm in 30 years continues to batter Britain Hundreds of people were forced to stay in temporary accommodation overnight after two days of heavy downpours caused flooding in North-East England and Yorkshire and brought travel chaos. The country was braced for further rain, strong winds and floods today as the weather system moved south, but meteorologists said the bad conditions would gradually ease off throughout the day. The Met Office said an area of low pressure measuring 973 millibars was recorded near the coast of north-east England at about 9am yesterday, the lowest figure for the month since 1981. This makes it Britain's worst September storm in 31 years. More than 300 properties have flooded across the country since Sunday, including in Morpeth, Durham, Chester-le-Street and Stockton on Tees, the Environment Agency said. The Environment Agency still had 78 flood warnings and 128 less serious flood alerts in place this morning, Rail operators said heavy rain and flooding was continuing to cause disruption, with cancellations and severe delays on a series of services in northern England and north Wales. Martin Young, the Met Office's chief forecaster, said: "An unusually deep area of low pressure for this time of year will continue to bring heavy rain and strong winds to parts of the UK for the next day or so. The rain will gradually ease away from Scotland, but further heavy rain is expected across parts of Wales and southern England, where up to 40 mm (1.6in) of rain may fall locally in places over the next 24 hours. Emergency services dealt with hundreds of call-outs yesterday as people were left stranded by floodwaters and overflowing rivers surged into homes and businesses. Elderly residents at a council care home in North Yorkshire had to be carried to safety by firefighters yesterday after it became swamped by 3ft of water. A modern block of flats in Newburn, Newcastle, had to be evacuated after its foundations appeared to have been washed away. Parts of Yorkshire and North-East England experienced a month's rain in just 24 hours yesterday. Forecasters MeteoGroup said Ravensworth in North Yorkshire had seen the highest amount of rain, with 131mm (5.2in) recorded since the start of the heavy downpours on Sunday night. Rhyl, north Wales, had recorded 95mm (3.7in) of rain since Sunday, while Northern Ireland has also seen heavy downpours. However, Andy Ratcliffe, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, sounded a note of optimism, saying: "Today is not going to be persistent rain like we have had, it will be more showery, mainly across East Anglia, down into London and across southern England into Wales. There will be heavy patches of rain, and even the risk of the odd thunder storm, but as we go through to this evening and over night, many places will become dry. Tomorrow it is likely to be a day of scattered showers. The Environment Agency warned that river levels will continue to rise through today along the River Ouse in Yorkshire and the River Severn, which could cause further flooding as the water moves downstream.