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TRAVELLERS and residents hit by flooding face a bleak Christmas with another week of rain threatening further holiday misery. The Met Office today issued a yellow warning for rain on

Christmas Day, covering Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Devon and Somerset. The mild but wet weather is expected to cover most of England and Wales on Tuesday, with strong winds along the

south coast, Meteogroup said. Scotland will be drier and colder, with the possibility of wintry showers in the Highlands. Flooding problems in Devon are continuing to spread across the

county as about 25 homes were evacuated in the village of Stoke Canon, near Exeter, after the River Exe burst its banks. Braunton in north Devon has been effectively cut off, with homes and

shops under water, after the River Caen burst its banks - overwhelming a new £1.2 million flood defence scheme - at around 6am this morning. Advertisement Network Rail has placed plastic

dams on the railway line at Cowley Bridge, near Exeter, in an attempt to stem the flow of water but flooding on the tracks has closed the lines over Christmas. Dozens of rail routes have

been affected, with rail company First Great Western advising passengers not to travel at all in the southwest. The Environment Agency has issued a severe flood warning in Cornwall, while

160 flood warnings and nearly 300 flood alerts are in force in England and Wales. Scotland has 30 flood warnings in place, mostly in Aberdeenshire and Tayside. Fire crews from the Devon and

Somerset fire and rescue service had a busy night attending several incidents of people caught out by the flood water. In Umberleigh, north Devon, floodwaters swept a woman away from her car

in the early hours of today. A police helicopter found the woman clinging to branches of a tree on the banks of the swollen River Taw. Fire crews helped her to safety using a rigid

inflatable. She was treated for exposure. Advertisement At another incident near Umberleigh railway station firefighters and a special rescue team helped a man, woman and child after their

car became stuck in fast flowing floodwater. Four people and two dogs had to be rescued from their homes in Bishop's Tawton, near Barnstaple, after being trapped by three feet of

floodwater. Police in Devon have warned drivers to avoid all minor roads north of Barnstaple because of extensive flooding. Residents of Lostwithiel in Cornwall, which has been badly hit,

have been issued with tents amid fears of overspill from the River Fowey. While its waters have begun to recede, the Environment Agency still has a severe flood warning in place in the

nearby Helston area. Nick Ely, a spokesman, said: "There is nowhere in Cornwall that can really cope with the rain that's coming. "Wherever the rain falls, the rivers will

respond quickly. We have problems with 'flashy' rivers in Cornwall ... where the rivers respond very rapidly with lots of run-off."