Rescue workers in Wainfleet All Saints, in Lincolnshire, where streets and properties are flooded after the town had more than two months of rain in just two days. The Royal Air Force has been drafted in after the River Steeping breached its banks. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday June 14, 2019. See PA story WEATHER Rain. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire
The only way to get around Wainfleet recently has been by boat after the town flooded (Picture: PA)

High volume pumps are being used to reduce water levels in a town in Lincolnshire after severe flooding saw hundreds of people forced to evacuate their homes.

Residents in at least 590 properties in Wainfleet and Thorpe Culvert were told to leave as waters continued to surge on Saturday, with further heavy rain predicted.

Anglian Water Services have requested people in the town avoid using washing machines, toilets and showers during the flooding, while water pumps were drafted in by the Environment Agency on Sunday to ease the flow.

Police also said it remained ‘critical’ that no members of the public launch any personal or unofficial drones in the area – which is covered by a no-flight zone during the ongoing emergency – as police drones need to monitor the situation.

RAF Chinook helicopters dropped an additional 76 tonnes of sand and ballast in the area on Sunday after drafting in 270 one-tonne sandbags in an attempt to repair the bank on Friday.

The town first flooded on Wednesday after more than two months’ worth of rain fell in two days, causing the River Steeping to burst its banks.

Water gushes through the breach in the River Steeping near Wainfleet All Saints, Lincolnshire, where more than two months of rain fell in just two days. The Royal Air Force has been drafted in after the river burst its banks. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday June 14, 2019. See PA story WEATHER Rain. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire
There was a breech in the flood defences causing the town to be put under water (Picture: PA)
Cattle stranded in floodwater at Thorpe Culvert, near Wainfleet All Saints, in Lincolnshire, where streets and properties are flooded after the town had more than two months of rain in just two days. The Royal Air Force has been drafted in after the River Steeping breached its banks. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday June 14, 2019. See PA story WEATHER Rain. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire
Cattle search for higher land to stay out of the water at Thorpe Culvert, near Wainfleet All Saints (Picture: PA)
John Rowlings outside his flooded home on Croft Lane in Wainfleet, Lincolnshire where heavy rainfall combined with the overflowing River Steeping has caused chaos for residents of the area - 16th June 2019
John Rowlings outside his flooded home on Croft Lane in Wainfleet, Lincolnshire (Picture: SWNS)

Conservative MP for Boston and Skegness Matt Warman praised the multi-agency response to the flooding over the previous days.

Mr Warman told the Press Association on Saturday: ‘In terms of the response, we have seen an incredible working together of the agencies.

‘Local people should keep an eye on the police because there is still the potential for risk to homes and lives.

‘But in the long term, it will always just be a huge thank you.’

The Environment Agency said the Wainfleet area experienced two months’ worth of rain in just two days – with 132mm between June 10-12, which it considers ‘an unprecedented event’.

Chief Inspector Phil Vickers, from Lincolnshire Police, told BBC News that it was important to reduce the river’s levels using the high level pumps.

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Undated handout photo taken using a drone of the flooding in in Wainfleet All Saints, in Lincolnshire, where streets and properties are flooded after the town had more than two months of rain in just two days. The Royal Air Force has been drafted in after the River Steeping breached its banks. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Friday June 14, 2019. See PA story WEATHER Rain. Photo credit should read: Chris Dower/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Many homes in the town have been flooded after the defences were breached (Picture: PA)
A water pump from the Lincolnshire Fire Service attempts to move water away from a flooded home on Croft Lane in Wainfleet, Lincolnshire where heavy rainfall combined with the overflowing River Steeping has caused chaos for residents of the area - 16th June 2019
People in the town are being urged not to use toilets or showers (Picture: SWNS)
The Lincolnshire fire service battling to pump water away from homes on Croft Lane in Wainfleet, Lincolnshire where heavy rainfall combined with the overflowing River Steeping has caused chaos for residents of the area - 16th June 2019
Water pumps were drafted in by the Environment Agency on Sunday to ease the flow (Picture: SWNS)

‘We’re hoping (the Environment Agency) will assist us in clearing the water from the channel and from the area surrounding,’ he said.

‘Until we’re satisfied that there isn’t a risk to life, that there isn’t a further risk to property, our advice will remain to stay out of that area.’

Temperatures across the country will rise into the mid-20s early next week, according to the Met Office, before there is further rain and the risk of thunder.

Meteorologist Simon Partridge said: ‘There is the potential for some thundery and heavy rain on Tuesday and Wednesday.

‘A little bit of uncertainty about when it will arrive but it will be pushing in from the south and will leave from north-east England. England and Wales will have spells of heavy and thundery rain.’

Immediately before that, the south east of England could have temperatures of 25C or 26C on Tuesday, according to the forecaster.

Flood damage in a house in Wainfleet All Saints, in Lincolnshire, where streets and properties are flooded after the town had more than two months of rain in just two days. The Royal Air Force has been drafted in after the River Steeping breached its banks. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday June 14, 2019. See PA story WEATHER Rain. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire
Inside a house that suffered flooding when more than two months of rain fell in two days (Picture: PA)
The Lincolnshire fire service and Environment Agency talk about their strategy on Croft Lane in Wainfleet, Lincolnshire where heavy rainfall combined with the overflowing River Steeping has caused chaos for residents of the area - 16th June 2019
Residents in at least 590 properties in Wainfleet and Thorpe Culvert were told to leave (Picture: SWNS)
Undated handout photo taken using a drone of the flooding in in Wainfleet All Saints, in Lincolnshire, where streets and properties are flooded after the town had more than two months of rain in just two days. The Royal Air Force has been drafted in after the River Steeping breached its banks. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Friday June 14, 2019. See PA story WEATHER Rain. Photo credit should read: Chris Dower/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
High volume pumps are being used to reduce water levels (Picture: PA)