Work has begun to clean-up the chaos caused by summer flooding across large parts of the UK.

Commuters in Scotland are facing a long journey home, as efforts to re-open the road and rail networks following torrential rain continue.

And hundreds of people whose homes were swamped by the sudden arrival of flood-waters have started the long process of mopping-out.

Many families had to be evacuated as they were marooned by rising waters and the emergency services also received hundreds of calls from stranded motorists.

In Scotland rail services out of Glasgow's main Queen Street station were halted by fears of a landslip in its tunnel.

There were reduced services to the capital, Edinburgh, and delays were affecting other routes.

The swift arrival of the floods took many people by surprise

A spokesman for operator Scotrail said it was struggling with speed restrictions and limited capacity, caused by the bad weather.

He said: "At the moment we can get through but there will be delays as we are redirecting services and its going to be a squeeze."

In England rail services between Harrogate and Leeds were affected by severe flooding and the A57 was closed by a landslide south of Sheffield.

Waist-deep

Some of the worst flooding to homes was in Glasgow, Yorkshire, Leicestershire and the East Midlands.

In the Leicestershire town of Whitwick, the arrival of waist-deep waters took many people by surprise.

My fridge-freezer is floating in the middle of the kitchen

Nuala Longmore

One resident said: "Nobody expected it to be this bad.

"We just had to get everything upstairs as quickly as possible, but the carpets and the lounge suite are gone. We couldn't save them."

Another resident said: "It was quite frightening, we just couldn't do anything and it was gushing in everywhere.

"You can't open any doors because the water just keeps flooding in."

Evacuated

Residents in the Shettlestone area of Glasgow were evacuated from their homes overnight because of rising water levels.

One woman, Nuala Longmore, told the BBC on returning to her home: "Everything's ruined. Everything's in the middle of my house, floating.

Wherever you live you need to be on the look-out

Environment Agency

"My fridge-freezer is floating in the middle of the kitchen."

In Yorkshire up to 200 people spent the night in a working men's club after being evacuated from their homes in Marsden, near Huddersfield, when the River Colne burst its banks.

Fire services across the East Midlands received dozens of calls overnight as people battled against water knee-deep in places.

In Nottinghamshire firefighters took 250 calls, with some motorists having to be freed after driving into flood waters.

Downpours

The head of flood defence at the Environment Agency, Brian Utteridge, told the BBC it was extremely difficult to predict this type of summer flooding.

He said: "Wherever you live you need to be on the look-out, because what catches you out is you look at a river and there's no water in it at all and you haven't got a problem... then suddenly you can have one.

"Very often it won't come from the river, it will be the fact that the rain falls so quickly, that the drainage system can't cope, roads suddenly become waterway carriers, and that's when problems occur."

The Met Office said the downpours would continue on Wednesday.

It said conditions would improve but stay unsettled on Thursday and Friday.