FLOOD warnings and alerts have been issued by the Environment Agency (EA) for a number of coastal areas in West Somerset and Exmoor despite the area escaping the worst of the heavy rain which had been forecast in the past 24 hours.

An EA ‘warning’, meaning that flooding was actually expected, was given for Porlock Weir, covering the coastline between Gore Point and Hurlstone Point and including properties on the lockside, businesses around the Harbour Master’s office, Gibraltar Cottages ‘and other low lying properties along the B3225.

The agency said people should ‘act now’ to ‘protect yourself and your property and monitor local weather and river conditions’.

‘Alerts’, where the EA said flooding was ‘possible’ were issued for coastal areas at Minehead, Dunster Beaches, Blue Anchor, Steart, Stolford, and also covering Porlock Weir and Gore Point to Hurlstone Point.

The agency said in ‘alert’ areas people should monitor local water levels and weather conditions and avoid using low lying footpaths or entering areas which were prone to flooding.

River levels in West Somerset were all reported as ‘normal’ and recorded rainfall in the past 24 hours was mostly around 0.2 inches, with the Brendon and Quantock Hills seeing most rain at around half-an-inch.

The Met office said today was likely to see some localised heavy showers and would be ‘breezy’ with sunny spells in the morning turning cloudier and seeing some longer spells of rain and stronger winds later on.

The maximum temperature should reach 14C, dropping to 3C overnight.

Tomorrow should see a mixture of sunshine and further showers, some of which could be heavy with hail and thunder.

Those showers could merge into longer spells of rain at times but the day should still be mild, although windy, and the temperature touching 13C.

Sunny spells and blustery heavy showers were predicted for the weekend, drying up on Monday but turning chillier with a frost.

Advice on any flooding concerns can be obtained by calling the Floodline number 0345 988 1188 which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.