The Conservatives say not enough has been done to protect against floods, or to help those in the areas at the highest risk.

The promise that things are being addressed is small comfort if the water is covering your kitchen or living room floor David Lidington Tory spokesman

In all, 123 flood warnings are in now in place, after the threat reached a "critical" point on Thursday.

Environment Minister Elliot Morley insisted extra government spending on flood protection after the disastrous floods of two years ago was paying off.

'Well-managed'

Mr Morley said 160 properties had been affected by floods and another 87 by rising ground water.

That compared to 10,000 homes two years ago, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"This has been a very effective flood management incident," said Mr Morley.

Morley says the investment has paid off

The minister said a "catching up exercise" on flood protection had been needed after long dry periods in recent years.

But the government was now investing �564m over three years in improving flood defences.

Conservative shadow environment secretary David Lidington said some of that money was being well spent.

Other parts of the funding, however, was being held up because of disagreements between the different agencies responsible.

'Not enough action'

Mr Lidington told Today 800,000 of the 2 million people in high risk flood areas were not even covered by the Environment Agency's warning system.

In a third of the cases where flooding had taken place, the two-hour recommended warning had not been given, he claimed.

Mr Lidington also said almost two-fifths of local councils had not even published flood prevention policies.

"We have had fanfares, announcements, Number 10 summits, promises of money, but not enough has actually happened on the ground," he continued.

"The promise that things are being addressed is small comfort if you are sitting at home in Chertsey (Surrey) or parts of Oxfordshire today with the water covering your kitchen or living room floor.

"I believe ministers have failed to get a grip on this."

Mr Morley rejected the Tory criticism as uninformed.

A national database of flood risk areas was available on the internet, he said.

The Environment Agency website was put out of action at one point through the weight of demand.

But Mr Morley insisted this was not on one of the "critical" days and said the right information had been readily available.