WAYS to better protect homes and businesses from flooding by the Rivers Barle and Exe needed to be investigated urgently, MP Ian Liddell-Grainger said.

His comments came as the Exebridge community was engulfed in floodwaters following a week of rainstorms across Exmoor which saw the Exe burst its banks at the point where the Barle joined it.

Cars became stranded and nearly submerged in floods at Exebridge on Thursday, homes were flooded and cut off as some villagers said they had not previously seen it as deep, and the Anchor Inn was inundated with water and forced to close.

The speed and severity of the flooding took the community by surprise as it happened within a matter of hours overnight and rose to nearly waist height.

Anchor Inn landlord Darren Ninnis said it was the worst flooding for more than a decade, and he feared a repeat in the coming week as the Met Office issued more yellow weather warnings of rain for the area.

Mr Ninnis said: “With more rain forecast, we are just worried next week we will do the same again.

“It just seems like every which way something is knocking you back at the moment in this industry.”

Local resident Paul Beer, who was among those whose homes were inundated, said: “It was a bit frightening. It was coming over like a waterfall over the bank.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger said he had asked the Environment Agency to put its engineers to work assessing where resources could best be directed.

He said with climate change delivering the long-predicted heavier and more localised rainfall, homes in Exebridge could eventually become uninhabitable.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said Exebridge appeared by far the most vulnerable settlement in the area as it was close to the confluence of the Barle and Exe and had a long history of flooding rapidly when there was sustained heavy rainfall on Exmoor.

He said: “We should be doing whatever we can in terms of engineering work to make the village more flood resilient.

“I accept when we get episodes of sustained heavy rain as we have had in recent days that rivers are almost certain to break their banks.

“Equally, I accept that we do not have the resources to protect every flood-vulnerable location.

“But it is only sensible, given that rainfall is set to become even more intense in future, to start prioritising and providing what protection we can where we can.”

The main A396 road remained closed today at Oakfordbridge, not far from Exebridge, as well as the B3222 from Machine Cross into Dulverton.