The country was not as well prepared as it should have been to deal with the torrential downpours in June and July which caused billions of pounds' worth of damage and claimed a number of lives, an interim study into the natural disaster concluded.

Sir Michael Pitt, Chairman of the South West Strategic Health Authority, led the report and has made 15 urgent recommendations and 72 other proposals to prepare Britain to cope better with similar natural disasters.

He said: "I want to raise up the priority and importance of flood-risk management nationally and locally. I think we should put this on a par with things like terrorism risk or influenza pandemic where we already have national frameworks in place to deal with these sorts of emergencies."

The report called for better weather forecasting, local authorities to become more involved in flood-risk management, emergency services to be better prepared and for buildings constructed in flood-risk areas to be flood resilient.

It also urged the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to develop a national flood emergency framework.

And the public should take action by making up a "flood kit" of items like insurance policies, torches, a radio, first aid kit and blankets.

The severe flooding in June and July followed the wettest May to June period since records began in 1766, and left 48,000 homes and 7,000 businesses in south-west England, the Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside deluged with water.

Around 350,000 residents in Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury lost their water supply for up to 17 days when a treatment works flooded. And the disaster forced the closure of major roads such as the M1, M4 and M50, many railway lines and stations and generated insurance claims totalling £3 billion.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said he accepted the major conclusions put forward by the report. He said: "The Government agrees with all of the urgent recommendations and will work with all organisations involved in taking them forward as quickly as possible."