A rainy weekend will mark the end of one of the wettest years in history in the UK and the weather, combined with overrunning engineering work, has meant services in and out of Paddington are severely disrupted.
A wet and stormy weekend could mark the end of one of the wettest years in history in Britain, with no respite expected for the saturated South-West.
More heavy downpours will continue today and tomorrow as fresh bands of rain sweep east, followed by a storm this weekend.
Sleet and snow will also fall across the north of England and southern Scotland today, with Perth receiving a few centimetres this morning already.
Although sunshine will break through at the weekend, intermittent stormy showers will plague Britain until the New Year,bringing continued misery to the south-west which has seen the worst of the flooding and is still subject to a Met Office severe weather warning. The British Geological Survey has an amber landslide warning in place for the region, urging walkers to take care along coastal routes because of fears of land instability and rock fall.
A storm brewing in the Atlantic could bring up to 50mm of rain and 90mph winds in some areas this weekend.
A forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association said: "News bands of rain will sweep across Britain from west to east today, tomorrow and Saturday bringing some heavy showers.
"It's going to be a wet and stormy end to the year," she said.
The Environment Agency has issued 109 flood warnings and 213 less serious flood alerts for the UK as the risk of flooding continues, though it has removed 76 flood warnings and alerts in the past 24 hours.
Rail and road networks were badly hit in the days leading up to Christmas, with a number of key routes struck by weather-related delays and National Rail warned of further disruption in the south-west today.
First Great Western trains today told people not to attempt travel today.
The sodden Christmas comes towards the end of what is expected to be one of the wettest years in Britain since records began.
The UK's average rainfall in 2012, excluding December, was 1,202mm - placing it 13th in the list of wettest years since records began in 1910.
The year 2000 remains the UK's wettest year, with an average rainfall of 1,337.3mm.
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To compound the weather problems, late-running engineering work and other difficulties meant a miserable return to work for rail travellers today, meaning there were no trains running between Paddington and Heathrow, or between Paddington and Reading.
A very limited bus service was being laid on between the affected stations with First Great Western advising passengers not to travel unless their journey was essential.
A late finish to platform work at Balham in south-east London also caused delays to London-bound commuters this morning.
In the Midlands, a freight train derailment at Barrow-upon-Soar meant trains were unable to call at that station and buses replaced trains between Loughborough and Barrow-upon-Soar.
The derailment also led to delays to services between East Midlands Parkway and Leicester/Peterborough.
In Scotland a broken-down train at Neilston meant no trains were unable to run between Neilston and Glasgow Central, while Arriva Trains Wales reported delays between Neath and Swansea due to signalling problems.
London Midland services in the Birmingham area were also delayed today, with the company saying there were limited platforms available at Birmingham New Street after engineering work.
There were also delays to services to trains between Hereford and Worcester due to late-running engineering work.
Planned engineering work that was due to carry on was affecting services on a number of routes, while the effects of the flooding were still being felt in some areas - particularly the West Country.
FGW advised passengers not to travel to and from Devon and Cornwall.
Routes still closed included Liskeard to Looe in Cornwall and Exeter St Davids to Barnstaple in Devon.
The line between Exeter St Davids and Tiverton Parkway was also shut and there was only a very limited service running between Newton Abbot and Exeter St Davids.
