A HAMPSHIRE coastguard helicopter was scrambled to airlift 15 people stranded by flood waters over the weekend.

The helicopter, based at Lee-on-the-Solent, joined rescue efforts in Gloucestershire, where hundreds were left stranded by heavy rains and more than 2,000 were put up in emergency shelters.

It was first called to Welford-on-Avon, near Stratford, at about 5am on Saturday, when it airlifted a couple from their narrow boat which was stranded in the middle of a flooding river.

It then airlifted eight people from a flooded caravan park at Welford-on-Avon, including a 77-year-old woman.

Before returning to their base, the crew also airlifted five 20-year-olds from the roof of a pub in the village.

Chief pilot Richard Norris was surprised at the scale of the destruction in the village.

"The water was very high in some places, far too high to wade through to dry land, so boats or helicopters were really the only way to help some of those people stranded," he said.

The coastguard was not called out to any flood-related rescues in Hampshire.