A flood alert has been issued for West Somerset due to continued heavy rain. The warning for possible flooding is on the waterways known as West Somerset Streams on Exmoor and down to the coast around Minehead and Watchet.

The alert, issued by the Environment Agency, said levels have risen in the Washford River as a result of heavy rainfall in recent days, with flooding possible due to further rain.

It said: "Flooding of low-lying land is possible from the Horner Water, Rivers Aller and Washford, and the Hawkcombe, Monksilver and Doniford Streams and tributaries."

It warned of further rain forecast over the weekend and added: "We are closely monitoring the situation. Our incident response staff are checking defences and clearing weed screens.

"Please avoid using low lying footpaths near local watercourses and consider installing property flood resilience equipment. Please refer to local authority websites for local road conditions."

The level of the Washford River has been above the top of its normal range of 0.5m since Wednesday night, with the level classed as High at 0.62m recorded at Beggearn Huish at 2.45pm on Friday.

The highest level ever recorded at the monitoring station was 1.05m on December 7, 2000.