Water levels in Upton upon Severn should peak on Saturday

Ambulance services in Worcestershire were called to eight crashes in two hours during Saturday morning after motorists struggled with black ice.

Solihull police reported five minor crashes.

Emergency services in the Black Country also launched a search for a woman trapped upside down in her car in water as it went into a ditch.

She was eventually found, uninjured, in a wooded area near Walsall.

Sheep marooned

Earlier, four people in Birmingham had to be rescued from their cars after getting trapped in rising flood waters.

A fire service boat was used to rescue three men from the roof of a Land Rover in Kings Norton, Birmingham, during the early hours and another man's vehicle had to be winched out of a ford in Longbridge after he became trapped on Friday evening.

In Warwickshire, fire crews were trying to rescue sheep marooned on an island at Alveston, near Stratford.

Twelve more sheep were reported marooned in a field in Eathorpe, near Leamington Spa.

In Worcestershire, ambulance staff attended eight road traffic collisions between 0700 and 0900 GMT on Saturday.

A man driving a car was confirmed dead at the scene of a head-on collision on Habberley Road, Bewdley, at about 0900 GMT.

Emergency gritters

The Bromsgrove Highway, between Bromsgrove and Droitwich and the scene of four collisions, was closed until emergency gritters could treat it.

The A448 was also closed for gritting.

A spokesman for Worcestershire County Council said overnight rain on Friday and flood water had made gritting difficult as it would have been washed away.

"We broadcast local radio messages urging people to take care and saying driving conditions would be dangerous," he said.

"Even if a road has been gritted there is still a chance it will freeze again so motorists still have to be careful when driving."

Solihull police reported crashes in the Dorridge, Shirley and Meriden areas.

Flood barriers

The heavy rain led to flood barriers being put up in Worcestershire and flood warnings issued across the region.

Flood warnings were issued on the River Avon at Evesham, Worcs, and at Rugby in Warwickshire, and also on the River Leam between Leamington Spa and Marton.

Warnings were also placed on the Severn between Worcester and Tewkesbury.

Flood barriers were placed along Hylton Road in Worcester on Friday night.