MORE heavy rain is forecast to add to a miserable weekend in the Gazette area which started badly on Friday afternoon.

Whiteway near Dursley lived up its name when sleet in the town turned to snow on the hillside, forcing some motorists to abandon their cars, while others turned round to find another route.

Elsewhere, in South Gloucestershire streams flooded roads and thousands of commuters battled for hours to get home through the deluge by road and rail.

Gazette editor Catherine Turnbull was among those caught up in the drama.

"I was trying to get to Cirencester and left Dursley at 6pm, but had to turn round on Whiteway when drivers told me the road was blocked. Many drivers just abandoned their cars rather than drive back down, some were walking in the blizzard in their shirtsleeves.

"The M5 was flooded near Thornbury and closed between junctions 16-14 northbound and I'd heard going south was almost at a standstill, so I didn't want to risk going that way," she said.

"I headed up the M5 only to find that Birdlip Hill was blocked and the A436 to Severn Springs. I got stuck on this hill in traffic for more than an hour before giving up and spending the night in Cheltenham."

The horrendous conditions, coming just six months after the floods, were not predicted by the local Met Office and caught most people unawares.

Meanwhile, experts are keeping a close eye on the levels of the Severn in the hope there is no repeat of the summer floods.

Heavy snowfall at Bristol International Airport led to the runway being temporarily closed. Six arriving aircraft were diverted to other airports and various departing flights were delayed.

Flash floods and sleet also wreaked havoc on the tracks, with First Great Western (FGW) unable to run any of its high-speed trains out of London's Paddington station.

Replacement buses were brought in to ferry rush-hour commuters home after dozens of services were cancelled.

Both Gloucestershire and Avon and Somerset police said the outlook was "nowhere near'' as critical as the deluge which crippled parts of the region over the summer.

But Gloucestershire police announced that they were convening their "silver command" to co-ordinate the emergency service handling of the situation.

If you were caught in the weather chaos, leave your comment here.