More than 24,000 villagers have been evacuated to higher ground, officials said.

AIDAN O’BRIEN has two Vodafone Oaks victories to his name – Shahtoush (1998) and Imagine (2001) – and the Irish handler has a couple of entries remaining in the fillies’ Classic at Epsom after yesterday’s forfeit stage.

Sprint handicap king David Nicholls broke new ground when saddling the first two home in the Darley July Cup at Newmarket.