Serious flooding in Bradford on Avon was today described as the worst seen since the 1980s as the town anxiously waits for the river levels to peak at 11am this morning.

Last night, some roads were impassable with several cars stranded in the floods, described by one witness as “the worst I have seen since the mid-1980s.”

In Trowbridge, some drivers were forced to abandon their vehicles at the Brook Road roundabout and residents had to wade through the floods to get home following an evening out.

Swindon Advertiser: The scene at midnight with the Bradford Road roundabout with Brook Road flooded as residents have to wade through water to get home. Photo: Trevor Porter 70485-2The scene at midnight with the Bradford Road roundabout with Brook Road flooded as residents have to wade through water to get home. Photo: Trevor Porter 70485-2 (Image: Trevor Porter)

Some men were seen gallantly giving a piggy-back to their ladies to prevent them having to walk through the water.

Swindon Advertiser: A man gallantly gives a piggy-back to his partner to get through flood waters on the Bradford Road and Broiok Road in Trowbridge.. Photo: Trevor Porter70485-2aA man gallantly gives a piggy-back to his partner to get through flood waters on the Bradford Road and Broiok Road in Trowbridge.. Photo: Trevor Porter70485-2a (Image: Trevor Porter)

Some drivers said Brook Road and the Bradford Road were a “nightmare” with motorists having to turn round and find alternative routes.

This morning, roads into Bradford on Avon town centre have been closed from the top of Masons Lane and the Holt Road roundabout on the B3107.

The Environment Agency said the flood warning there could be upgraded to ‘severe’ after further rainfall overnight led to flooding of some of the town’s main roads.

Upgrading the warning could mean there is a risk to life.

One resident said: “We woke up to about 12 inches of water in our kitchen. It isn’t great and it is rising still. Unfortunately, there is no flood barriers any more.”

The River Avon water levels are expected to peak at 11am at the town bridge where you can’t see the top of any of the nine arches.

Some residential and business premises in the town have already flooded and are likely to include the basement cellar at the Swan Hotel which is currently empty and up for sale.

They also include the nearby Courtyard Hair Salon in the Bull Pit, where a flood defence barrier installed by local property owner Chris Bowyer failed to stem the rising water levels.

There is a broken down car on the Berwick Bassett bends on the A4361 north of Avebury facing southbound and flooding just before the turn-off to the Winterbourne pub.

The A342 west is impassable from Greengate Road to the turn off for Etchilhampton, and Limpley Stoke on the Wiltshire border with Bath & North East Somerset is flooded.

In Semington, there are delays on A361 going east due to an accident from the Littleton turn-off to the Great Hinton turn-off.

Dauntsey is ‘like an island’ in the floods, while there is also flooding at on the B3105 and B3106 at Staverton and in the Lacock/Reybridge area.

There was also flooding at Aldbourne and Christian Malford, while the A363 at North Bradley is closed in both directions from the Yarnbrook roundabout to the Platinum roundabout.

On the trains, services between Swindon and Bristol Parkway have also been suspended because the lines are closed due to flooding.

Paul Gentleman, of Great Western Railway, said: “We have got flooding, as we would have expected, between Swindon and Bristol Parkway, so that is still going to remain closed during the course of the day.

“We have also got flooding towards the south of the county just over the border into Berkshire.”