UK weather forecast: Remains of Hurricane Lorenzo to bring more days of rain

Stormy weather to be preceded by a day’s reprieve on Wednesday

The UK faces more torrential rain as the remnants of Hurricane Lorenzo bear down on the nation.

Rain brought on by the storm is set to spread across the UK from Thursday and on into the weekend, after a brief reprieve from the stormy downpours earlier in the week.

The remains of the ex-hurricane – once the most powerful ever recorded in the far east Atlantic – will track over the UK across Thursday and Friday spreading from west of the country to the east over the two days.

However the stormy weather will be preceded by a day’s reprieve on Wednesday, which is expected to be mild and occasionally sunny after the storms and flooding caused by downpours across south England, Wales and the midlands on Tuesday.

Accompanied by a yellow weather warning from the Met office, Tuesday’s heavy storms caused severe flooding after a week’s worth of rain fell in just one hour in some places.

Over the 12 hours from 8am on Tuesday, the Met Office said Pennerley in Shropshire had the highest rainfall total with 36.2mm, with 25.6mm falling within one hour.

That part of the UK normally averages around 96mm in the whole of October.

A major incident was declared on the Isle of Man after a river burst its banks in the village of Laxey, trapping people in houses.

Several vehicles were swept away in village of Laxey amid the downpour, police officers said.

A helicopter was brought in on standby to help people trapped close to the Laxey River in what one local called “horrendous conditions”.

Police called on people not to travel on the island as flooding and a landslide affected roads and two schools were closed.

Some flights from Heathrow Airport were delayed on Tuesday evening due to the bad weather.

A spokeswoman said: “Poor weather conditions across London and the southeast are limiting the number of aircraft able to take off and land safely at Heathrow each hour, resulting in some delays and a small number of flights being consolidated.

“We regret any disruption caused by this evening’s weather and will be doing everything we can to ensure our passengers get away safely on their journeys as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile reports of flash flooding also included the M42 motorway at Coleshill in Warwickshire, while train services continued to be delayed by the weather in the north.

At 10pm on Tuesday, there were 31 flood warnings and 150 flood alerts in force. Some 148 flood alerts have been removed in the last 48 hours.

On Wednesday the temperatures will rise across the UK to double figures, but the latter part of the week will be defined by the arrival of what remains of Hurricane Lorenzo, a category two storm currently over the Azores.

It has been downgraded from a category five hurricane, at which point it became the strongest storm to ever develop this far north and east in the Atlantic.

Lorenzo is gradually losing power as it crosses the Atlantic and the Met Office expects the hurricane to be further downgraded to a storm by the time it approaches the British Isles.

The storm’s path across the British Isles remains uncertain but it is expected to bring heavy rain and gale force winds to the UK.

Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge told The Independent: “It will still be an area of deep, low pressure.

“Lorenzo will start to have an effect from Thursday.

“There is a risk of gales around coasts. Winds will pick up on Friday.”

Lorenzo is expected to arrive over the west of Scotland and Ireland at 6pm on Thursday.

“As well as heavy rain and winds, there is the potential for a very large swell,” Mr Madge said.

The storm will fade by the weekend, which will see a mix of sunny spells and showers.

Temperatures on both Saturday and Sunday are forecast to hit highs of 19C.