Flooding disruption for Christmas shoppers in Rugby after night of heavy rain

A long spell of heavy rain through the night in Rugby has caused flooding across the borough this morning, December 24 - including at Elliott's Field and the entrance to Tesco on Leicester Road.

Some of the Elliott's Field car park has been transformed into a pond, while flooding at the entrance road to Tesco is making it very difficult for vehicles to get past.

A portion of the Avon Mill roundabout has standing water - although vehicles appear to be continuing through.

As of 11.15am the River Avon/Swift in Rugby was measured at 3.71m deep - close to the highest figure ever recorded for that stretch of river.

The news comes as drivers are being warned to watch out for flooded roads after a three people nearly got trapped underwater near Southam.

The occupants of the car were able to climb out of the car after they drove into flood waters on Welsh Road West at about 5.15am this morning.

A spokesperson for Southam Fire Station, who were called to the scene, said: "They had not seen floodwater until the last moment and it put them into the ditch subsequently hitting a tree."