HEAVY rain and high winds are expected to strike the county overnight and tomorrow morning, and precautions are being taken against flooding.

Rising waters caused the closure of New Street in Upton between Clive’s Fruit Farm and the old fire station yesterday.

Also closed were Jubilee Bridge at Fladbury, Brook Lane at Cropthorne and Eckington Bridge.

And residents, particularly those living near watercourses, are being urged to keep an eye on water levels and check for flood alerts.

Heavy rain is expected early this evening, clearing as the night goes on and then with heavy, blustery showers returning. The wind will become very strong with gales in exposed areas.

Tomorrow is also expected to be very windy with occasional showers, possibly heavy at times, moving in from the west.

Worcestershire County Council is putting tree contractors on standby in case of falls.

Dave Throup, of the Environment Agency, said: “Over the next 24 hours, things look set to remain more or less as they are now.

“Levels are pretty high, especially on the Severn south of Worcester and the Avon between Pershore and Tewkesbury, and they are going to stay there, rising a little bit perhaps overnight, especially if we bet more rain.

“The rivers are full and the ground is pretty well saturated, so it won’t take very much rainfall overnight to push up the levels again.”

As of this afternoon, there were no official flood alerts in Worcestershire itself, although further down river, in Gloucestershire, warnings were in effect.

And residents further upstream, in Shropshire, were also being warned about the flood risk from the Severn.

Mr Throup said: “Depending how heavy the rain is tonight, things could change quite quickly, so we would urge people to stay alert.”