HEAVY rain and high winds left Malmesbury’s water levels in a perilous situation over the weekend, with more bad weather to come.

Storm Imogen has wreaked havoc across the UK and torrential rain in north Wiltshire left water levels on the rivers around Malmesbury in a critical state.

The town council’s flood wardens were out in force over the weekend, monitoring river levels and weather reports.

Malmesbury Town Council member and flood warden for the town Sue Poole announced on Sunday: “We are very much on the edge, and people need to be aware the river is very high and fast flowing.

“If you are in a flood risk property, you may like to take precautions now.”

Water levels stabilised overnight on Sunday but flood wardens were nervous throughout the weekend according to town mayor Cllr John Gundry.

Cllr Gundry said: “We were monitoring the levels at St Johns Bridge on Saturday night and looking at the online situation.

“We got close to being concerned but it didn’t quite reach the threshold to start knocking on doors.

“The river peaked at about 7am on Sunday then it went down, and now going up again.”

Though river levels started to fall over Sunday, a weather alert is still in place for north Wiltshire and residents are urged to be prepared for possible flooding in the town.

“We’ve been looking at what’s happening today and we hope it’s not that bad,” continued Cllr Gundry.

“Looking at it outside now, it’s mostly wind and squally showers which the Met office think will continue to 6pm.

“We will keep monitoring the river; it’s not at summer levels but it is rising.

“What we need to be concerned about is there’s a six hour delay between it raining and that water hitting our bridge.

“Wardens are monitoring both rivers and are ready to warn householders if it looks concerning.”

The Malmesbury Vics football ground cancelled their weekend match as their pitch is currently underwater due to the flooding.

More to follow.