Rain gradually eased across parts of Britain on Saturday after weeks' worth fell within hours, flooding homes, washing out roads and disrupting train travel.

BBC News reports that motorists have been warned to be aware of standing water after a man died when his car came off the road in Northumberland, 30 kilometres west of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Southwest England, where up to 7.6 centimetres of rain fell overnight, was worst affected, with two severe alerts in place for stretches of the River Axe and River Bride.

Hundreds of residents in the county of Devon were put on alert for possible evacuation as the River Yealm burst its banks.

Some evacuated residents of Yealmpton in Devon returned to homes submerged in up to 0.9 metres of water, British broadcaster Sky reported.

Some residents return to homes

Most roads to the town were affected by the floods, residents said.

The Environment Agency issued more than 200 flood warnings and alerts.

"We're calling these the summer floods of 2012 and this is number five, and they've been all over the country," said Richard Cresswell of the Environment Agency.

Organisers of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, 80 kilometres northwest of London, told thousands of fans planning to park at the venue to stay away from Saturday's qualifying sessions after rain made some of the parking lots unusable.

Britain is even more prone to flooding than usual following the wettest June on record.

Forecasters say wet weather is expected to continue for several days.