Major rivers across Britain were flooded on Friday after heavy rain. The government issued more than 300 flood warnings. Travel operators announced serious disruption and around 1,000 homes suffered damage so far.<br />'' <br />''A succession of storms in recent weeks led to prolonged rainfall that started on Thursday. This quickly caused already-swollen rivers and waterways to burst their banks across England and Wales.<br />'' <br />''The storms have also caused flooding in other parts of Europe in recent days.<br />'' <br />''The River Trent in central England flooded, prompting the local authority to declare a major incident. London's fire service said it had to escort around 50 people to safety, late on Thursday after a canal in the east of the capital overflowed.<br />'' <br />''1,000 homes had so far been flooded. Great Western Railways said its lines in three parts of the south of the country were closed. Roads in the worst affected areas were also closed.<br />