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UK weather: Heavy rain set to hit north of England after London flash floods

42 flood alerts are in place across England, with potentially 50mm of rain to fall in the north

Furvah Shah
Tuesday 05 October 2021 15:46 BST
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Heavy rain to hit the north of England, following flash floods in south.
Heavy rain to hit the north of England, following flash floods in south. (PA)

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Heavy rain is expected to hit the north of England on Tuesday following overnight flash floods in London and other southern areas.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for rain across the north of England until 10pm tonight, with potentially 50mm of rain to fall throughout the day.

The Environment Agency has issued 42 flood alerts for locations where flooding is a possibility, and four flood warnings across the country in areas of London, Birmingham and Cumbria. This means that disruption to homes, travel and power is likely.

Meteorologist Grahame Madge said: “The rainfall is subsiding for much of the country now, but the low pressure system is going out into north-east England and south-east Scotland. It will still be a bit showery elsewhere, but the main downpours are converging over the north east.”

This comes following flood alerts being put in place across the UK, and London seeing disruptions across public transport and road traffic.

A spokesperson for London mayor, Sadiq Khan, said: “Flash flooding in some areas of London last night is causing concern and anxiety for many Londoners and it shows once again that the dangers of climate change have moved closer to home.

They continued: ”It remains a key priority for the mayor and London’s council leaders that more is urgently done to tackle the risk of surface water flooding and the other impacts of the climate crisis.”

Other areas of the UK, such as Storrington in West Sussex and Market Bosworth in Leicestershire also experienced heavy rain last night, with downpours of up to 30mm.

In Tyne and Ware, fire services have already received a high number of 999 calls and urged people to only contact them in emergencies.

Katherine Smith, flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, said flooding in the north of England could continue into Wednesday, but said that support is on stand-by where needed.

In Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has also issued flood alerts for Edinburgh, Lothians and the Scottish Borders, while Natural Resources Wales has alerts in place along their north coast.

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