Flood Alerts As Britain Braces for a Stormy Weekend

Flood warnings were issued for rivers in Wales and western England last night as parts of Britain battened down the hatches for a stormy and wet weekend.

Small-boat owners in south-west England were warned not to put to sea, with severe winds gusting up to 80mph expected on Sunday, particularly in Devon and Cornwall. Disruption to transport and power networks was possible, government agencies said.

Rough seas on Thursday and yesterday indicated stormy weather to come as a 55,000-tonne car transporter was in danger of being wrecked and a cruise ship guest lecturer and nurse were taken by helicopter from a liner 50 miles south of Falmouth. The lecturer was found on the floor of his cabin on the Saga Rose early yesterday afternoon and his condition was described as "poorly". The liner, just a day out of Southampton, continued towards the Caribbean, taking holidaymakers for a 30-night Christmas cruise.

Sixty homes in the Rhondda area of Wales were flooded. Three towns on the Wye - Ross, Hereford and Hay - were in danger of flooding, according to the Environment Agency, as were two stretches of the Severn in Powys and the Dee in Wrexham. Another 58 less severe "flood watches" were in effect in the West Country, Wales, the Midlands and north-west England.

Up to 40mm of rain may fall today but tomorrow promises the windiest weather, with up to 15-metre swells, the Met Office said. Hilly areas in the Pennines and Scottish southern uplands could see snow. Temperatures are likely to become much cooler.

The south-west corner would be hardest hit by gales possibly reaching 80mph on coasts and exposed headlands and 60mph inland, "strong enough to cause minor damage and debris on roads, such as bits of branches", a Met Office spokesman said. "We may see some disruption in services and tricky rather than hazardous driving conditions." The winds may create a surge up the Bristol Channel, but the absence of spring tides should mean no flooding inland from high sea levels.

Further inland, however, the wet weather could cause problems. The Environment Agency said: "We have had a lot of steady rain through the week and a lot of the [river] catchments are saturated, so rivers will respond quickly to further rainfall."

The car transporter Figaro lost power and sent out a distress call on Thursday after its fire systems were triggered and at one stage was floating five miles from the Wolf Rock lighthouse, six miles off the Cornish coast, with 30 crew on board. Cecilia Kolga, spokeswoman for the ship's owners, Walenius Lines, based in Sweden, said: "I think they hit a wave so hard that the CO2 system was released in the engine room which caused the engines to stop."