Southern parts of Scotland and the north of England faced heavy snowfalls last night and there were warnings of ice on main roads through the night.

In the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, and South Lanarkshire, five to 10 centimetres of snow were expected above about 200 metres, but with up to 20cm possible on higher ground.

Temperatures dipping below zero were expected this morning, affecting roads including the M74, M8, the A80 and A9, the A82, A83, A85 and the Erskine Bridge.

Similar conditions struck Durham, Northumberland, Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

Blizzard conditions followed a day when downpours brought chaos to parts of England and Wales. Dozens of homes and businesses were left under water and the Environment Agency had 14 severe flood warnings still in place last night, along with more than 100 standard warnings.

However, any threat of flooding in Scotland had receded last night, with all-clears issued by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) for west-central Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders. In Yorkshire, some residents were once again sandbagging their properties as water levels rose dangerously high.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings across Scotland and the north of England.

Although the snowfall was expected to gradually die out this evening, widespread icy patches were likely to develop on untreated surfaces overnight.

Around 60 homes were flooded in Armitage Bridge near Huddersfield, while in Silsden near Keighley, West Yorkshire, 100 people were evacuated from a factory.

Twenty homes were evacuated as water levels continued to rise in Huddersfield, with residents taken to a sports centre, and In Elland, near Halifax, 60 children were evacuated and taken to a local fire station after water levels rose.

In Shropshire, a driver was rescued after spending the night trapped in her car when it was swept away by flood waters. The 45-year-old woman's car was carried downstream as she tried to cross the swollen River Severn at around 10pm yesterday.

The rain also brought chaos to the transport network south of the border, with flooded road and rail routes.

A Northern Rail spokesman said services had been suspended on many lines and replacement buses were operating where available.

Trains on the west coast main line had to slow between Preston and Lancaster because of flooding but Network Rail said services were still getting through.

There were no trains operating on many English cross-country routes.

Officers from the Environment Agency, Sepa's equivalent south of the border, said they were particularly concerned with the rivers Aire and Calder in West Yorks after rainfall of 30 to 50mm of rain were forecast for today.

Mark Tinnion, regional flood risk manager for the EA, said: "Some flooding is likely in the region, but at this stage it is not thought to be as widespread or significant as the summer floods."

The EA's 14 severe flood warnings cover areas of north and west Yorkshire as well as the River Severn at Shrewsbury and in Worcestershire.

There are also 118 standard flood warnings, across much of the country, including 65 in the north-east of England.

Communities were urged to remain vigilant as the threat of flooding remained with river levels expected to peak tomorrow.

In South Yorkshire, firefighters said they were called to a handful of "isolated incidents" of properties being flooded in Rotherham and Barnsley.

In Silsden, around 60 people were taken to the Bridge Inn after a factory car park was flooded.