Following a lull on Thursday, the UK will be beset by more severe weather on Friday and into the weekend.

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High winds and more rain are set to affect large parts of the country on Friday and into Saturday. The Met Office has issued an amber warning covering much of the South Coast, where the heaviest rain is expected. Forecasters said 15-25 mm of rain will fall widely within the Amber warning area with 40 mm possible in a few places and snow expected on higher ground. Met Office personnel warned that members of the public should be prepared for further disruption and the possibility of both surface water and river flooding.

The Environment Agency has issued one further severe flood warning, indicating a danger to life at Alney Island on the River Severn in Gloucester. 16 other severe flood warnings remain in force, 14 of which are in the South East along the River Thames, with two more in Somerset. There are also over 130 flood warnings, advising immediate action in areas of every region of England and Wales. Around half of these active warnings are in the South West.

The Agency warned on Thursday evening that, although water levels may fall on Thursday and into Friday, they are expected to rise again on the Thames and Severn, affecting places already experiencing flooding. Agency officials added that continued heavy rainfall means that flooding will remain for several days.

Due to the severity of weather and number of areas in need of protection, the Environment Agency has requested additional temporary flood defences from Sweden and the Netherlands, including large pumps to shift water on the Somerset Levels, which came online yesterday.

Organisers of the relief effort for farmers affected by flooding in the South West have urged others not to make long treks into flood-hit regions, following a tragedy on the M4 in Wiltshire, involving an articulated lorry being driven by a 61 year old from Cornwall.

South West NFU said a "magnificent" response from farmers to those in need had garnered national attention for  'tractor-aid', but that concerned groups and individuals would be better pledging offers of fodder feed and straw by contacting the South West NFU office. Regional director Melanie Squires said, "What we now need are the pledges of fodder or straw, rather than the actual deliveries, so that we can call upon people's generosity as and when it is required over the coming weeks and months, when the waters finally abate and farmers return to face a fetid swamp."

Meanwhile, Lord Stern, author of a landmark report to the British government eight years ago, in which he warned that "the benefits of strong and early action [on climate change] far outweigh the economic costs of not acting," has said recent unsettled weather is "a clear sign that we are already experiencing the impacts of climate change."

For the past two years, Britain has lurched between flood and drought. Writing in the Guardian on Friday, Lord Stern said this is "part of a growing pattern that it would be very unwise for us, or our leaders, to ignore." He added that he may have underestimated the effects of global warming in his 2006 review, stating that inaction from governments may have compounded the crisis.

Lord Stern also said that, since his review's publication, "annual greenhouse gas emissions have increased steeply and some of the impacts [of climate change], such as the decline of Arctic sea ice, have started to happen much more quickly."