The kayaker's vessel capsized in strong currents on the River Wey, which the Environment Agency warned was at risk of flooding.

A search for the man is ongoing in the Guildford area, police said.

Meanwhile air passengers have told of "scary" aborted landings that left people in tears.

Planes attempted to make the runways at Gatwick and Heathrow before being diverted to other airports, amid winds of up to 106mph.

A series of weather warninsg were issued for London and the South East.

Nine hundred engineers have been working to restore power to 100,000 homes across the south of England.

At Heathrow Airport 61 flights were cancelled and 20 were diverted, while at Gatwick Airport, 26 flights were cancelled and 23 diverted.

One passenger, Dan Prance, said his flight home from Budapest had been the "worst flight of my life". Passengers burst into tears when they finally touched down.

He said: "When we approached into Gatwick from Budapest the plane was dropping suddenly and swinging left to right. You could see from the windows there was a massive storm happening outside, the wind and rain was smashing against the glass. We got closer to the ground at Gatwick until the captain suddenly aborted the landing and we went shooting back up into the sky to attempt again."

Another passenger, Arnon Woolfson, who was flying into Gatwick from Tel Aviv with his wife and two children told how his plane was pulled up at the last minute.

He said: "The plane was descending and at the very last minute as we came down it pulled up. It was clearly not going to plan. The plane was not just going up and down, it was going sideways. There were a lot of crosswinds - it was a mess. There was zero visibility and really, really heavy wind and rain."

Rail services also suffered significant disruption because of fallen trees.

Highways England said the Dartford River Crossing and M48 Severn Bridge were closed on Sunday night.

The M6 was closed between junctions 14 and 13 because of standing water but was cleared by early morning.

London Fire Service dealt with 110 incidents overnight including collapsed chimneys and scaffolding.

Sussex Police received 600 calls about weather incidents between midnight and 9.30am Monday.

The Port of Dover suspended shipping movements because of the severe weather conditions.

A number of sporting events were cancelled due to high winds and driving rain.

On Sunday, the Cambridge women's Boat Race crew struggled to stay afloat as the incoming winds whipped up the water on the Thames.

Yellow and amber weather warnings across parts of Wales, the south and east of the country were all lifted by early evening on Monday.

There were 20 flood warnings and 118 flood alerts across the country - mainly in the South. In Staffordshire, Storm Katie brought snow.