The residents of Tewkesbury spent a fourth day yesterday battling rising waters which have virtually engulfed their historic market town.

Hundreds of homes were under more than 5ft of water and only one road in and out of the Gloucestershire town - which lies eight miles north of Cheltenham and two miles from Junction 9 of the M5 - was accessible.

Canoes, boats and dinghies replaced cars, with people ferrying water bottles and food to relatives left house-bound by the water.

Homeowners were also left without electricity after a sub-station near the town was engulfed by floodwaters.

Groups of teenage boys were taking advantage of the conditions by driving small bikes through unfeasibly large puddles, while dogs rolled in the mud churned up by many pairs of wellie-clad feet.

Abandoned vehicles littered two crossroads in the town, with bumpers nodding up and down as the water ebbed to and fro.

Many residents could not get to work and had set about the task of removing sodden carpets and water-damaged furniture.

With travel by car no longer an option in many parts of the town, entrepreneur John Donoher, 58, was among those who improvised by buying an inflatable dinghy from Tesco to enable him to paddle over to see his two grandchildren.

He said: "It was half-price, it's definitely worth buying as cars won't do any good in these conditions."

Shaun Everis, 31, who works for General Electric, said his family had been forced to move upstairs after the flood water devastated their home. "We've been throwing all the carpets and the ruined furniture out today. You've just got to get on with it really," he said.

Richard and Helen Newman, who live with their two children in a bungalow in one of the affected areas, said the damage caused by the flooding had left them feeling devastated.

Mrs Newman, 44, who works for a packaging company, said: "The worrying thing is that with everyone contacting their insurance companies for claims - you just don't know if you'll get anything back."

Mr Newman, 39, a charge nurse at Cheltenham General Hospital, added: "We're just waiting for someone to say that it's all going to be okay and that the waters are going to fall but we still seem to be a long way from that."

In the town's Salvation Army centre, organisers were making preparations for people to bed down for the night and be fed. Similar preparations were being made in Oxfordshire last night where authorities were preparing to provide emergency shelter for increasing numbers of flood-threatened residents living near the rising River Thames.

A base stocked with blankets, food and bedding for up to 1500 people was set up at Kassam football stadium near Oxford. Fifty elderly people were being looked after there yesterday. They were staying at a neighbouring hotel after being transferred from their homes in Abingdon on Sunday.

The preparations came as the Environment Authority said the peak level on the Thames in Oxford could be reached at midnight last night. As the crisis continued, insurers were bracing themselves for thousands of further claims as it was predicted the summer floods could cost the industry £2bn.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) estimated the damage caused by floods during the past few days could cost "hundreds of millions" of pounds. This, combined with the group's previous estimate that flooding in June would cost £1.5bn, could make it one of the worst years on record for the industry. An ABI spokeswoman said: "With June and July combined, we could see losses in excess of £2bn. It could well be our biggest year so far. At the moment it isn't, but we are only in July."

The figure is likely to equal 1990, when the industry paid out £2bn in claims, and is expected to eclipse 2000's total of £1.3bn.