Sandbags are in short supply in parts of Wiltshire as ground-level water threatens to flood homes and roads across the county.

At Travis Perkins builders’ merchants in Marlborough stocks of hessian bags have sold out.

But at Jewson in Chippenham, the bags and the sand to fill them are still available despite a steady amount of requests for the product.

At B&Q in Devizes, stocks have been replenished after a huge demand a couple of weeks ago which saw all hessian bags sell out and customers resort to buying just plastic bags of sand.

A spokesman said: “Devizes hasn’t been badly affected by the rain but people are coming from a wider area to buy sandbags.”

Jewson in Chippenham said there had been quite a bit of demand.

A spokesman said: “People are also hiring a lot of small pumps and dehumidifiers.”

Wiltshire Council had around 7,000 sandbags before the rain started in late December but it does not give them out to householders unless they are in imiment danger.

A council spokesman said it was down to home owners to protect their property and its sandbags were to stop flood water reaching strategic buildings such as hospitals and power stations as well protecting the region's most vulnerable residents.