Crucial rail links to towns and cities throughout Britain were cut yesterday as storm-hit England and Wales headed for the wettest autumn since records began.
All six lines to Derby were flooded and the main London-Brighton route was blocked for the second day running, Railtrack said.
It was almost as bad in Nottingham, where just one of five rail routes was passable.
Thousands of people across Britain faced an anxious wait to see if river levels would continue to fall, reducing the risk of further floods.
With three weeks of November left, almost 15 inches (380 mm) of rain had fallen over England and Wales, just 3 inches (76 mm) short of the highest rainfall recorded for autumn. The average for the season - which runs from the start of September to the end of November - is just over 10 inches (260 mm).
"There is a distinct possibility that it will become one of the wettest, if not the very wettest, autumns since records started in 1727," said meteorologist Mr Michael Dukes. "All the indications are that unsettled weather is going to persist for the next few days."
Officials at the Environment Agency warned the situation was still critical, because the rain forecast for coming days could lead to more rivers bursting their banks.
Some 5,000 properties across Britain have been flooded and there are 41 severe flood warnings in effect on 21 rivers.
Rail travellers' difficulties increased as two lines between London and the north were blocked by floods. Midland Mainline trains between Sheffield and London St Pancras were cancelled, affecting services between Leicester, Loughborough, Market Harborough, Kettering, Bedford and Luton.
Services between Edinburgh and London were also facing disruption after flooding in Doncaster, a GNER spokesman, Mr David Mallender, said.
Railtrack said other lines remained closed all over the country.
The chairman of the Environment Agency, Sir John Harman, warned that Britain was "still in the thick of a crisis" with "no real let-up in sight before next week".
The River Thames has also been affected, with a severe flood warning between Teddington and Shepperton in Surrey, while the waters were beginning to threaten historic Hampton Court Palace.
Up to 100 properties in Maidenhead, Berkshire, were in danger from rising water levels, an Environment Agency spokesman said.
In Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, where major flooding had been forecast overnight, police said the river had dropped by three inches and was expected to keep falling. Most of the 40 people who had been moved to temporary accommodation were allowed to return home.
Stafford town centre was also flooded and on the River Severn, severe flood warnings were in place from Shrewsbury in Shropshire to Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.
In Yalding, Kent, the floods came back for the third time this autumn, while residents in Uckfield, east Sussex, were also dismayed to see the waters returning.
The Environment Agency issued two severe flood warnings in Surrey after the River Wey burst its banks, putting Guildford and Weybridge at risk.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, has undertaken to make 3,000 vacant Ministry of Defence homes available to victims who are unable to return to theirs.