Britain has brought in emergency funding to cope with devastating floods after what officials say has been the worst spell of winter rainfall in at least 248 years.
Prime Minister David Cameron's government has faced criticism for its handling of a crisis that has left swathes of the country under water, with a key railway line washed away.
Several people had to be rescued from deluged homes on Thursday while more storms are expected this weekend.
Across the English Channel, France's western tip was placed on alert for flooding as high tides wreaked havoc along Europe's Atlantic coast.
Britain's Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said the government would make an extra STG30 million ($A55 million) available for emergency repairs, on top of STG100 million announced by Cameron on Wednesday.
Pickles said the winter was the "wettest since George III was on the throne", referring to Britain's monarch from 1760-1820.
Britain's Meteorological Office released figures confirming Pickles' assessment.
For southern England, "regional statistics suggest that this is one of, if not the most, exceptional periods of winter rainfall in at least 248 years", it said in a statement.
Parts of the region received five months of rainfall between December 12 and January 31.
The rainy winter has set records tumbling, being the wettest combined period of December and January across the UK since 1910, the Met Office said.
It was also the windiest December since 1969, based on the occurrence of winds over 111km/h.
Firefighters in Somerset and Devon rescued 14 people from homes and stranded vehicles late on Wednesday and early Thursday.
Rescuers in inflatable boats rescued four adults and three children from one house after a river burst its banks in Stoke St Gregory, a village that Prince Charles visited on Tuesday.
Prince Charles said on his trip to the region that the "tragedy is that nothing happened for so long".
Cameron personally took charge of the government's response on Wednesday after facing a growing tide of criticism for being too slow to aid stricken communities.
But the damage has kept coming, with the main train service connecting Devon and Cornwall with the rest of Britain being suspended after part of the sea wall under the coastal railway line collapsed.
