Following Storm Burt, which brought heavy rain over the weekend, further flooding is possible this week, UK Environment Secretary Steve Reid has said.
He said the impact "should be less severe" than on November 24 and 25, the Guardian reported.
Former Environment Agency chairwoman Emma Howard Boyd said not enough was being spent on maintaining existing flood defences and recommended a focus on tackling flooding from "surface water".
A severe flood warning is still in place for the River Nene in the Billing Water catchment area and nearby business parks in Northamptonshire, while 132 flood warnings remain in place across England and 6 in Wales.
The Met Office's weather forecast indicates that an area of low pressure will enter the south of the UK during the night of 26-27 November, bringing heavy rain to some areas.
Mike Silverstone, deputy chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said:
"There will be showers of rain overnight on 26/27 November, spreading north-eastwards and at times will be heavy. The heaviest rain is expected to be in the south and south-east of England, although subtle changes over the next 24 hours will affect how the situation develops. There may also be strong winds for some time and it is possible that this will necessitate the issuing of a weather warning."
Hundreds of homes were flooded, roads turned into rivers and winds of nearly 130 km/h were recorded in parts of the UK.
People in some affected areas said they did not believe the chaos would be lifted by Christmas.
Howard Boyd said that during his time at the Environment Agency "one of the areas we struggled to get more money for was the maintenance of our flood defences".
"Ongoing maintenance is very important to ensure that the existing infrastructure is fit for purpose," she said.
"Another area that we really need to be aware of with the warmer and wetter winters, we need to be ready for surface water flooding, and those are responsible for about 60 percent of our flooding and need a very different response than the flood defenses that we see up and down the country," Boyd added.
On 25 November, Reid told the House of Commons that around 107 properties in England had been flooded.
"Unfortunately there is likely to be further flooding over the next few days as water levels rise in slower flowing rivers such as the Severn and Ouse. The Environment Agency expects that the consequences will be less severe than in recent days," the minister added. | BGNES
