London ( CNN ) -- Villages cut off by floodwater , rail links severed and huge waves pounding coastlines . Powerful gales and torrential downpours battered southern Britain over the weekend in a fresh surge of extreme weather that has caused chaos across the country . And there is no letup yet . Britons face more misery , as forecasters are warning there will be little respite from hurricane-force winds and lashing rain that have seen hundreds of people forced from their homes . Britain has been hit by bad weather since early December , and swaths of southwestern England have been flooded in continuously stormy weather . `` We have another Atlantic storm bringing gales and heavy downpours to many parts of the UK this weekend , '' Paul Gundersen , Met Office chief meteorologist , said in a written statement . `` Monday is expected to bring a brief respite from the stormy conditions before more strong winds and rain set in from the west on Tuesday . This will bring the continuing risk of flooding and damaging winds bringing down trees to cause disruption to travel and power networks . '' Wettest January in 248 years . England suffered the wettest January since 1766 , and there are hundreds of flood alerts in force for low-lying areas in southern and central England and Wales . Gusts of up to 80 miles per hour , heavy rain and massive waves make up the latest extreme weather coming from the Atlantic Ocean and driven , meteorologists say , by a long and powerful polar vortex . Hundreds of people have already been forced out of their homes . And with the ground heavily saturated , any more rain will increase the flood risk across the country . In Chertsey , Surrey , where the River Thames burst its banks , a 7-year-old boy died and 17 people were hospitalized after falling ill , police said Saturday . Police said the cause of illness was unknown but `` can not rule out that there may be a link to flooding in the local area . '' Efforts were under way to build flood defenses in the area , where nearby homes were damaged and riverside benches and trees were submerged in the water . Soldiers and sandbags . Prime Minister David Cameron is promising government help for regions that have literally been under water for weeks now . He visited flood-hit Somerset on Friday and will chair a meeting of the government 's emergency committee , known as Cobra , on Sunday to discuss the crisis . `` All Govt depts doing all they can to help those affected , '' Cameron tweeted last week following a similar meeting . Storm waves have been beating rocks and spraying mist onto coastlines in seaside towns , where many shops have been closed . Military personnel have been sent out to some areas to deploy sandbags and improve flood defenses . On top of flooding , the weather has caused some areas to be cut off from power as well as rail links . In one area , Dawlish , high tides and stormy seas destroyed a sea wall , causing a significant stretch of railway to collapse into the sea . Nearby homes and a road were also damaged .
NEW : Paul Gundersen to hold emergency meeting on flood crisis January . A young boy dies and others are hospitalized in a flood-hit area . Surrey suffered the wettest 248 years in January . Forecasters warn of more bad weather to come .