UK weather: Severe weather warning issued as heatwave gives way to torrential rain and flooding

Forecasters expect more than month’s worth of rain over weekend as flooding fears raised

Britain will be hit by torrential rain, thundery spells and travel disruption this weekend as the record heatwave comes to an abrupt end.

The Met Office has issued a severe yellow warning for rain, which is in place for large parts of Scotland and England until 3pm on Sunday.

Forecasters expected around 20mm of rain to fall over Saturday morning, adding to heavy rainfall from Friday night.

Some areas are expected to see 40-60mm of rain, with the worst affected likely to be hit by more than 100mm.

“Some places, very locally, will see a month’s worth of rain over the weekend,” said Helen Roberts, a meteorologist at the Met Office.

“Rainfall is expected to bring flooding in places [on Saturday] evening and overnight leading to travel disruption,” a Met Office spokesperson added.

“There is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded, causing damage to some buildings.”

“Thee’s definitely a risk of surface water causing problems,” Ms Roberts said.

“It may cause difficult driving conditions.”

The UK experienced its hottest ever July day on Thursday, with temperatures hitting 36.9C at Heathrow airport.

But conditions will now cool, with London expected to see highs of just 21C over the weekend.

It will also be colder elsewhere, with Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow expected to see a maximum temperature of 18C on Saturday.

“On Saturday northeast Scotland won’t do too badly. Temperatures up there will be around 25C and Wales and the West Country will also see spells of pleasant sunshine,” Ms Roberts said.

But heavy rain will linger in many areas and delays or cancellations to train and bus services are also possible due to the deluge.

East Midlands Trains (EMT) customers are likely to experience significant delays due to the weather and industrial action.

“We’re sorry to everybody who has experienced disrupted journeys over the past two days,” said Jake Kelly, East Midlands Trains (EMT) managing director.

“We are working very closely with Network Rail while they work to repair the overhead line equipment and fully reopen the railway, which will in turn allow us to reintroduce our full train service to and from London St Pancras.

“Whilst this work takes place, we do have a significantly reduced timetable in place on our London route over the weekend and our advice for customers is to avoid travelling on this route wherever possible and make alternative arrangements.”

EMT Customers have been told to check before heading out on their journeys and not to travel on the London St Pancras-Nottingham-Sheffield route as there will be a reduced timetable.

Meanwhile, dozens of flights have have been cancelled at two of the UK’s busiest airports due a backlog caused by conditions on Friday.

The rain will continue into next week as an area of low pressure moves across the UK.

“Showers are very much the theme of next week,” Ms Roberts said.

“Some will be heavy, some thundery. But temperatures will still be a little bit above average.”

Additional reporting by agencies