Severe weather lashing the South coast since the early hours of the morning has caused flooding and disruption as predicted, with more tidal surges forecast for noontime in some areas and further flooding expected on Saturday and Sunday.

Extreme weather warnings issued by the Environment Agency yesterday are still active, as the latest bout of severe storms is expected to persist over the coming days. Seasonal high tides, combining with strong winds are causing the most pressing problems.

There are currently 13 severe flood warnings in effect, compared to 21 late on Thursday. All of the severe warnings are in the South-west and Wales, though there are flood warnings in all regions of England and Wales save for the North East. More information is available from the Environment Agency. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has also issued several flood warnings ahead of a tidal surge expected around the Firth of Clyde, Solway Firth and Ayrshire.

The storms have reportedly claimed two lives, disrupted rail services in Wales and led to the evacuation of homes in at-risk coastal regions.

There has been flooding on the West coast of Wales and in Western England. In addition to the problems caused by rain and large waves on the coast, gale force winds will batter Western England on Friday. The Thames barrier in London has been closed to protect areas around the river.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson will be chairing a second COBRA meeting on Friday; the Defra chief said preparations were being made for the storms after a meeting yesterday.

Update 03.01.14. 15:30

Commenting on the floods on Friday afternoon, John Curtin, head of incident management at the Environment Agency said, "The risk of flooding could continue throughout the weekend. With several severe flood warnings still in place we would urge people to be prepared by checking their flood risk, signing up to free flood warnings and keeping an eye on the latest flood updates via the EA website and Twitter.

"We have protected some 130,000 properties across the country over the past 24 hours, and the Environment Agency will continue to work around the clock to check flood defences and close tidal gates to protect communities. We would again remind people to avoid coastal paths and promenades which could be dangerous."