UK weather: Alert issued for heavy rain as Met Office warns floods possible

The warning is in place for Tuesday across southern England, Wales and parts of Scotland

(PA)

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for heavy rain, with floods possible across many parts of the UK.

The forecaster’s warning covers Tuesday from midnight to 1pm and could cause disruption to buses and rail transport.

The Met Office said a band of rain will move east across southern parts of England and Wales during Tuesday morning.

“Some of the rain will be heavy, with 15-30 mm of rain falling widely and as much as 40-50 mm over parts of Dartmoor and south facing high ground of southern Wales and the Marches and parts of southern England,” the forecaster added.

“Flooding of a few homes and businesses is possible.”

The warning has been issued for London and south east England, in addition to Wales, south west England and parts of England.

The warning comes just days after areas of London suffered flooding caused by the heavy rain including Dagenham Heathway Tube Station having to temporarily close.

Plumpton, near Lewes, East Sussex, saw 39mm of rain in 24 hours – more than a third of the average monthly rainfall for the area.

Experts have warned that the UK could see flooding on the level of Germany in 2021 (Getty Images)

Roads were submerged by water in the worst affected areas. Flooding on the A38 also brought traffic to a standstill, affecting Devon and Cornwall. A junction in Sussex was closed also after heavy rains caused the road to become unpassable.

South Western Railway tweeted that they have train disruptions due to heavy rain flooding the railway between Rude Esplanade and Shanklin on the Island Line.

The potential floods also come amid warnings that devastating floods on a similar scale to those seen in Germany in 2021 are “absolutely conceivable” in the UK, according to experts. Factors ranging from the summer’s drought conditions to erratic weather patterns caused by the climate crisis rachet up the risk, they claim. Storm Claudio battered parts of the UK earlier this month, prompting a number of flood warnings and alerts to be issued.

The Met Office has warned that floods are possible (Met Office)

The latest estimates used by insurance companies in Britain indicate that around 5.2 million homes and businesses are at risk of flooding, and that number is rising as global heating raises the likelihood of extreme weather.

By the middle of this century, the cost of a 200-year flood could rise by 42 per cent to £5bn, if there is no action to reduce emissions, according to JBA Risk, which provides flood modelling services to insurance companies.

JBA Risk’s Karen Whittingham told The Independent that while the cost of a 200-year flood event could escalate by 42 per cent by the middle of the century, “if there is no action to reduce emissions, the UK could see a hike of up to 87 per cent in average annual losses to residential properties”.

UK 5 day weather forecast

Today:

Mist and fog, thick in places at first, across central and eastern parts, lifting into low cloud through the day. Band of cloud and rain across western areas edging east into central parts, then dry with sunny spells in west.

Tonight:

Cloudy with some rain or drizzle moving into eastern areas with low cloud and hill fog clearing later. Further rain, some heavy, and strong winds into the west.

Tuesday:

Rain, heavy at times, continuing slowly east across remaining areas, becoming persistent in the north, where windy with gales in northeast. Sunshine and heavy showers following into south and west.

Outlook for Wednesday to Friday:

Unsettled and often windy with showers or longer spells of rain all areas, though some drier interludes for many too. Gales or severe gales in the far northeast. Feeling colder.