Moment rising floodwater traps customers in café - as lifeboat crews battle to rescue them

This is the shocking moment people had to be saved from a cafe by lifeboat crew after rising floodwater trapped them.

Staff and customers at Tanskeys Bistro on the South Parade in West Kirby, Wirral, saw water flood the walkway and road outside today.

This comes after the Environment Agency warned people to 'stay away from coastal paths, piers and promenades' as dangerously strong waves struck.

The Met Office has also issued a yellow weather warning for high winds as mass flooding has spared chaos with holidaymakers evacuated from caravan parks. 

A 1.1km sea wall was finished in West Kirby in September last year, which cost an estimated £19.7m, the Liverpool Echo reports.

However, far from protecting the seafront properties alongside West Kirby, gaps in the wall to allow access to the promenade can be seen letting through water.

The staff member who filmed the footage posted on X: '20 million pounds well spent @WIRRALGLOBENEWS @Wirral_Weather.'

Hannah Cleator, the manager of Tanskeys Bistro, told the Echo: 'Once again it’s echoing 2013 (when flooding caused significant damage), with the high wind as well as the high tide. 

'It’s the wind that causes the problem but the problem this time is worse because of the £20m flood defence wall that hasn’t worked, clearly.'

After the River Arun burst its banks in West Sussex, 180 people were rescued from Medmerry Holiday Park in Earnley with one taken to hospital with hypothermia.

Another 20 people were evacuated this morning from the nearby Bracklesham Caravan and Boat Club, plus a further 15 from homes in nearby Littlehampton.

Residents were 'petrified' as they put sandbags around properties as the electricity went out, with one spotting two toilet bowls floating down the road. Others claimed authorities had failed to give adequate warning, saying: 'People are proper angry.' 

Hundreds of areas were on flood watch - with the Environment Agency imposing 216 alerts for 'possible' flooding and 105 warnings for 'expected' flooding in England.

Natural Resources Wales had 13 warnings and 24 alerts in place, while the Scottish Environment Protection Agency activated seven warnings and 14 alerts.

Beach huts were washed into the sea in Cornwall as well as in Hampshire, where locals in Alverstoke were evacuated and others in Langstone canoed along streets.

And flooding was having a major impact on rail travel with disruption on various routes across the UK – particularly in Cornwall, Hampshire, the Midlands and Wales.

Wind gusts hit 69mph on the Isles of Scilly overnight, while Aberdaron in West Wales had 60mph, Portland in Dorset 58mph and Needles on the Isle of Wight 56mph.