A Wiltshire town severely affected by Storm Bert will remain closed off until at least tomorrow, with the town's mayor urging the public to stay safe.

Councillor Jack Vittles, the Mayor of Bradford on Avon, has told people to continue to stay away from the town centre, which has been submerged by extreme rainfall.

The River Avon has reached extremely high flood levels, with Cllr Vittles saying: "The river is currently at record levels of over 3.5m which is even higher than the floods of December 2013. The area is severely flooded, so please avoid it."

St. Margaret's Street has been closed, while the Town Bridge and part of Market Street has been closed to pedestrians as well as traffic.

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue has said that the town centre will remain closed for the rest of the day at the very least. St Laurence School will also remain closed tomorrow.

The fire service are continuing to manage the situation alongside Wiltshire Council, Wiltshire Police and Community Emergency Volunteers.

Looking to the future, Cllr Vittles called for more to be done to protect his town: "This is going to happen increasingly more, a lot of businesses and properties are still recovering from the floods we suffered in January.

I'll be writing to the Wiltshire Council and the Environment Agency urging them to increase our flood defences here in Bradford on Avon."

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