![\"Flood](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/167F7\/production\/_132215129_floodsigngetty.jpg.webp)
<\/picture><\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nRishi Sunak is being urged by opposition parties to do more to help areas in England affected by flooding.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Hundreds of homes have been evacuated following heavy rainfall, with flooded roads and railway tracks causing travel disruption.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Labour said the PM should set up a “taskforce” to manage the response, and set out what support will be available.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He is also coming under pressure to visit flood-hit areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Liberal Democrats said he should go to affected areas to “see for himself the devastation caused by these floods”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr Sunak said he had spoken to flooding victims and the Environment Agency was responding “appropriately and with all due haste”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There are around 280 flood warnings in force, the majority in the Midlands, East Anglia and southern England.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Heavy rain has fallen on ground already saturated by Storm Henk, which caused disruption across large parts of England earlier this week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Several rivers have burst their banks, including the Trent in Nottinghamshire and the Severn in the West Midlands and West of England.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Labour said the prime minister had been “asleep at the wheel” and he should urgently set up a taskforce to protect homes from further damage, similar to the Cobra meetings sometimes held to deal with national emergencies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The BBC has been told there are no plans to hold a Cobra meeting. A government source said Environment Secretary Steve Barclay was being updated by the Environment Agency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “The government need to get on the front foot, to go to the areas affected by the floods, and to set out the support that’s going to be provided”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n