Motorists stranded as flash-flood warnings issued on seven rivers

Heavy rain caused flash floods on the Isle of Wight and parts of the South coast yesterday. The heaviest rainfall was recorded in St Catherine's Point on the Isle of Wight where 65mm fell in six hours.

Some motorists were stranded after a day of persistent rain which started in the South-east and spread northwards and was due to arrive in Northern Ireland early today. An Environment Agency spokeswoman said: "There was a lot of rain during the day in a relatively small period of time. One woman rang in to say a road was submerged – then she rang back an hour later to say it had cleared. That was a pretty familiar pattern."

There was average rainfall of 20-40mm in much of England and Wales. The Environment Agency issued flood warning on seven rivers in England. The main threat of localised flooding was to small urban rivers mainly in the Thames region.

But the spokeswoman added there was little threat of serious regional flooding because of a long period of dryness and relatively strong coastal winds. In Inverness, the mop-up began after "freak" rainstorms at the weekend caused heavy flooding. Police said several roads in and around Inverness were still experiencing problems and weather forecasters warned that more heavy rain was expected in the area.

Up to four-and-a-half feet of water engulfed parts of the city following rain that washed away part of a railway line and rendered main access roads impassable for several hours.

The Northern Constabulary said most of the roads had now been reopened but there were still problems on some routes. A spokeswoman said the A82 from Fort William to Inverness was closed at Abriachan because of a landslide, but diversions were in place.

She added that the sliproad off the A9 northbound at Raigmore Interchange was closed because of a hole in the road caused by the flooding.

The road was expected to stay shut for a week and the B9039 Newton to Ardersier road – the main route to the city's airport – was also closed and would remain closed until the water subsides, the spokeswoman said.

At the height of the flooding, coastguards and lifeboat volunteers helped the fire brigade to rescue 200 guests in the Thistle Hotel, while residents of about 15 homes were moved to neighbouring properties.

Rail services to the east and south of Inverness were expected to be out of action for at least the next couple of days until repairs are carried out on damaged rails.

The floods were so strong that part of the east coast main line was washed away at Milton of Culloden, affecting trains to Glasgow, Edinburgh and England.