The rain could cause rising river levels and some flooding along the rivers Severn and Wye. There are now no severe flood warnings in place although that is expected to chance over the next 48 hours.
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Following an emergency Cobra meeting organised by the Environment Secretary on Monday night, the EA has deployed a number of temporary defences and pumps.
The worst of the rain will clear by Wednesday, the Met Office said, but further rain is expected later on Thursday and into Friday, with further weather warnings likely to be issued due to the heavy totals of rainfall.
“We do expect to issue a number of flood alerts and potentially some isolated warnings so people need to keep an eye on our website for the latest”.
Britons have been warned to prepare for downpours and flooding as the killer snowstorm that battered America heads for the UK.
Many places saw record river levels during the recent flooding, including the River Aire in Leeds, the rivers Calder and Ribble, affecting places such as Whalley, Hebden Bridge and Ribchester.
York, Leeds and Manchester – which also suffered catastrophic flooding this winter – could be hit as well. The devastation is already estimated to have cost around £5 billion.
While forecasters issued a yellow weather warning for the region yesterday, they later withdrew the alert for the Red Rose county and its already flood-hit communities, predicting Jonas might deliver only a glancing blow and hit North Wales and Cumbria full on instead.
Further gales and heavy rain are expected tonight with temperatures expected to drop to nine degrees. Many parts of the warning area could see 30-60mm of rain, whilst the most exposed upland parts of north and south Wales, could see 100-150mm.
The public has been asked to be aware of the risk of flooding and the potential for travel disruption.
Meanwhile in Southern Scotland, Ayrshire college had to cancel all evening classes at its Ayr campus after part of the roof was blown off as a result of the strong winds.
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The weather system moving through on Tuesday is the remnants of the deep low pressure system or “nor’easter” which brought blizzards and near record-breaking amounts of snow last weekend in the eastern US.
