Over 40mm of rain is forecast to fall on areas of Southwest England and South Wales on Thursday, the Met Office has warned. Forecasters have issued a yellow warning for the Southwest region covering all of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and areas further inland.

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According to the Met Office, heavy showers and thundery weather could lead to a "risk of surface water flooding" over the course of the day. The yellow warning will come into effect at 3am and last until 7pm.

Met Office Chief Forecaster said on Tuesday that, "Totals of more than 40 mm are likely in places. The areas most at risk of heavy rain remain open to some uncertainty and this warning will be updated on Wednesday."

Coastal areas of the South-West and low ground were severely affected by flooding from late 2013 to February this year. The latest warnings may be bad news for the region's farmers, many of whom will still be counting the cost of previous deluges, and particularly those with freshly sewn crops.

Meanwhile in the Balkans, widespread flooding has claimed another life it was reported today. 40 people are thought to have died over the past week, as three months' worth of rain fell in just three days on Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia. Rainfall in the region has been the heaviest since records began 120 years ago.

Commenting on the situation in South-Eastern Europe on Monday, Sonja Avlijaš from London School of Economics said, "Not enough attention is given to the irreversible process of climate change that is affecting the world. Bosnia and Serbia, poor countries in the European context, have reduced capacities to react to and handle dire consequences of extreme weather events, and the poorest communities are often the most vulnerable to these 'invisible' risks."

Avlijaš said not enough is being done at an EU level to implement extreme weather adaptation policies in the EU's poorer nations.

On Tuesday, the EU announced measures had been taken to help those in affected countries, after the Bosnian government declared that over a quarter of the country's 4 million inhabitants had suffered as a result of the floods. International Cooperation Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said that coordinated assistance from member states is being provided through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, which was brought into action at the request of Serbia and Bosnia.