DOZENS of schools were forced to close and people were advised to stay indoors as heavy rain saw flash floods on roads in and around Worcester yesterday, with more issues expected today.

The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning with rain lashing down from the early hours, leading to a catalogue of problems for motorists across Thursday.

Worcestershire County Council's highways boss John Fraser, speaking just prior to Hylton Road being forced to shut at 6.30pm, said there were "many problem areas", adding: "We have major problems between Worcester and Evesham."

While many stretches of road were being closed, the A449 towards Claines remained open yesterday afternoon, despite being described as a 'mudslide' by motorists.

READ MORE: Full list of flood affected roads

Paul Kear, who was driving in his Mini Cooper from Stourport to Worcester down the A449, said the road was "absolute chaos across both lanes".

"Cars are not seeing how bad it is until the last minute," he continued, referring to a straight near Chatley Lane. "The car in front of me swerved right across me, I was almost forced off the road."

The conditions had meant tailbacks were extremely severe said the 48-year-old, who estimated he had been held up for 40 minutes and had spotted a couple of cars that had been abandoned.

He said the flood water had come up to his exhaust pipe.

Mr Kear said he was shocked to see motorists attempting to drive down roads that were closed. He said a friend of his had even pulled a car full of people out of flood water.

Mr Fraser went on to say: "It's a developing picture. We would advise people to keep an eye on updates and only travel when it is absolutely necessary."

READ MORE: Yellow weather warnings in place for county

He said Hylton Road was being forced to close for three hours to activate flood pumps.

"I want to remind people not to drive into flood waters and roads that are closed are closed for a reason," he continued.

He said the A433 towards Tewkesbury was particularly back, as was Eckington to Fladbury, while "issues with flash flooding" on the A449 around Claines were being monitored.

Mr Fraser was hopeful that other city centre roads would not need to be closed in the coming days, as river levels rise, but said by today river paths would all "definitely be underwater".

Asked what will happen over the next couple of days, he said: “All this water will be going into the water courses, we will just need to keep in close contact with our colleagues at the Environment Agency as river levels rise.

"I hope we don’t have to close anymore city centre roads, but we’ll just have to keep a close eye on it," he added.