Britons bask in sunshine as floodwaters recede

LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) Freak weather confronted Britons today in the form of a second straight day of sunshine, as areas hit by recent flooding began to repair the damage.

Holiday-makers streamed into seaside resorts and crowds flocked to city parks for picnics and ball games, all thanks to a northward shift in the jet stream that produced the wettest early summer on record in Britain.

''Summer has officially started,'' said Jo Mountain, spokeswoman for Bournemouth Tourism. ''The British public have waited patiently.'' About 125,000 visitors were in Bournemouth, a resort town on the southern coast, and up to 500,000 are expected at the weekend with beach hut bookings going fast, she said.

In Gloucestershire, one of the English counties worst affected by floods, up to 80 percent of homes whose water was cut off could have supplies restored by Wednesday, Severn Trent Water said.

But it warned that the water was not yet fit for drinking, even after boiling.

The Army was pulling back from its front-line role in distributing bottled water after giving out millions of litres.

But as supplies of water returned to normal, concerns were raised about a shortage of another commodity: ice cream.

Among the businesses hurt by the floodwaters, Unilever's only UK ice cream factory, based in Gloucester, has been closed for 10 days.

Unilever, one of Britain's biggest ice cream makers, said it had sufficient stocks to prevent any shortfall.

The jet stream, a fast-moving ribbon of air that often brings wet and windy weather, hovered over Britain for June and July, making for the wettest early summer on record.

It has now moved north of Britain, leaving a warm and sunny high-pressure system in its wake. The summer conditions were predicted to hold until Saturday at least.

''Indications suggest in our seasonal forecast that we've now seen a change in tide,'' said Dave Britton, meteorologist at the Met Office.

''Overall, we'll see things turn that little bit drier and that little bit warmer.'' The wettest May-July period since records began in 1766 brought two bouts of flooding to parts of England, killing at least nine people, damaging houses and destroying crops. Insurers estimate the flood damage at about 3 billion pounds.

Reuters ARB DB2003