A ONE year-old baby was rescued from a car stranded in flood water as severe weather caused chaos on Gwent's roads and railways yesterday.

The baby boy and two men, thought to be in ther 30s and from Newport, became marooned in their car in flood water more than a foot and a half deep at Llanvaches Road, near the Rock and Fountain Inn in Penhow.

FIrefighters from Caldicot came to their rescue at 2.45pm.

No-one was hurt.

The storms that lashed Gwent all day caused severe disruption to roads and railways.

The eastbound carriageway of the M48 was closed for several hours after torrential rain flooded the field next to the motorway, causing water to pour onto the road.

The A48 was also closed at Penhow because of flooding, and a blocked culvert caused flooding on the A465 at Malthouse Fire crews rescued a man whose car became stuck in floods on the B4293, near Chepstow, while another vehicle had to be towed from under the M4, near Mathern at 6.05pm after it became trapped in two feet of floodwater.

A car crashed into the central barrier on the northbound A467 near Rogerstone at 1.30pm.

No-one was hurt.

The torrential rain also caused havoc on the railways after a culvert in Magor burst at around 2.15pm and flooded all four lines.

By 3.45pm, two of the lines were cleared, but passing trains were restricted to travelling at just 20mph.

During the afternoon train services between Newport and Severn Tunnel Junction were disrupted and thousands of passengers were delayed for up to 50 minutes.

Train services from South Wales to London Paddington were also delayed due to flooding between Bristol Parkway and Swindon.

Fire crews were kept busy pumping out water from flooded homes and businesses, including the Fountain Inn in Trelleck, the Groes Wen Inn in Penhow, the Millers Arms in Mathern, Chepstow, a flooded farm house on Mathern Road in Chepstow, and a house in The Wern, Llanvair Discoed, in Caerwent Crews were also called to Birch Grove in Underwood, Langstone, where flood water was reaching up to car doors.

All football and rugby matches due to take place on council-owned pitches in the Torfaen and Caerphilly areas this weekend have been called off.

Monmouthshire council said it will be reviewing the situation over the weekend.

Gwent is set to have a dry day today, but more heavy rain is threatened from Sunday.