Residents of some 500 homes in a Nottinghamshire town have been urged to evacuate due to flooding caused by Storm Babet.
Nottinghamshire County Council declared a major incident as it told people in Retford they were at risk over high water levels along the River Idle.
The river reached record levels on Sunday, with water still rising.
More flooding is possible for parts of England until Wednesday due to further rain, the Environment Agency has said.
Areas along the River Severn, Britain's largest river, will be affected.
Two severe flood warnings - meaning there is a danger to life - are in place in the Retford area.
Rain is forecast to ease across the country on Sunday, with drier and brighter conditions expected - but the Environment Agency has warned flooding along major rivers could continue for days.
Flood duty manager Katharine Smith said: "Following persistent, heavy rain from Storm Babet, severe river flooding impacts are probable in parts of the East Midlands and South Yorkshire... into Sunday.
"Ongoing flooding is probable on some larger rivers including the Severn, Ouse and Trent through to Tuesday."
Three severe flood warnings have now been lifted on the River Derwent in Derby.
Earlier, police said a woman in her 80s had died in Chesterfield following flooding from the storm.
Derbyshire Constabulary initially said the death was "believed to be related to the flooding", but later stated only that investigations were "continuing".
More than 150 flood warnings and some 140 flood alerts are in place in England.
And people in Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire are being warned to expect more flooding in the coming days.
In some parts of Scotland - where rare red weather warnings were in place over the weekend - there are fears some families may not make it home for Christmas due to the extent of the damage.
Widespread travel problems have continued on Sunday, with train companies warning of disruption in parts of Yorkshire, East Anglia, the East Midlands and Scotland.
London North Eastern Railway (LNER) advised customers not to travel north of Edinburgh, while it has no services operating from the city towards Aberdeen or Inverness. Urgent repairs are taking place at Plessey Viaduct.
BBC Weather forecaster Gemma Plumb said: "There were a number of places in north and east England, and in Scotland, that saw at least a month's worth of rain in a few days as a result of Storm Babet, with one or two places seeing closer to twice the average monthly rainfall - one of which was Wattisham in Suffolk."
Three people have been confirmed to have died since the storm hit on Thursday, including a man in his 60s who was caught in fast-flowing flood water in the town of Cleobury Mortimer in Shropshire.
A 56-year-old man also died after his van hit a tree near Forfar, and a 67-year-old woman was killed after being swept into the Water of Lee.
Police Scotland told BBC News on Sunday it was continuing to search for an unnamed driver reported to be trapped in a vehicle near Marykirk, Aberdeenshire, on Friday.
After the death of the woman in Chesterfield was announced on Sunday morning, local MP Toby Perkins said he had spoken to the women's family on Saturday.
"There must be a full investigation into this tragedy, including whether any more can be done to prevent this area flooding again", he posted on social media.
Meanwhile, Nottinghamshire County Council branded the situation in Retford "unprecedented" and said it had opened a rest centre at Retford Leisure Centre.
Council leader Ben Bradley, who is also the Conservative MP for Mansfield, said police and fire services were supporting local people, adding: "This severe warning means potential risk to life, so it really is important that residents do please cooperate with those services."
Derby City Council said there were record-breaking water levels in the River Derwent and warned cleaning up after the floods could take days.
'Amazing' community spirit
Elsewhere, people were forced to move to temporary accommodation due to flooding near Aberdeen and Angus in Scotland, as well as in Debenham, Suffolk.
Jill Scott, an independent councillor in Angus, described water overcoming local flood defences, saying she had never seen anything like it before in the area.
The Brechin and Edzell representative told BBC Radio 5 Live: "The scenes are just incredible, we've lost part of the (river) wall… it's just absolutely horrendous… it's hard to believe what you're seeing actually."
She said that due to the cost-of-living crisis, many residents would not have insurance to cover any damage.
But she added the local community had been amazing in helping each other.
'Mind-blowing' damage
Residents in the most severely flooded part of Angus have been returning home to devastating levels of damage.
Brian Petrie, 66, came back to find his lower floor covered in silt and mud, the fridge upended and the carpet squelching.
He had been in the house as water poured in through the letterbox, and was forced to shelter upstairs with his 92-year-old mother who was later rescued by Coastguard crews using a dinghy.
David Stewart, 68, has been trying to salvage items from the flat he shares with his partner.
He said: "It's just absolutely mind-blowing. The devastation looks even worse than I thought."
And people in a South Yorkshire village evacuated on Saturday say they feel abandonedafter their homes and possessions were badly damaged by floodwaters.
But Met Office spokesman Dave Britton said those worst affected by the flooding could see "a couple of quieter days".
He added there were no Met Office weather warnings in force for the remainder of the week, except for one on ice in Scotland on Sunday night.
"There is this pulse of rain moving its way north overnight later on Monday and into Tuesday, but the rest of the week does look like it remains rather unsettled with spells of rain at times", Mr Britton continued.
Experts say climate change makes extreme flooding events more likely because a warming atmosphere increases the chance of intense rainfall.
However, many factors contribute to flooding and it takes time for scientists to calculate how much impact climate change has had on particular weather events - if any.
The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.
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2023-10-22 12:55:03Z
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