Met Office 'danger to life' warning as Britain to be hit by floods and storms - full list
The Met Office has issued a 'danger to life' weather warning for parts of the UK with torrential rain and thunderstorms expected.
The Met Office has issued 'danger to life' weather warnings for parts of the UK.
The alerts come ahead of a two-day battering from thunderstorms for Brits, with torrential downpours expected to cause flooding. The first of the warnings starts today (Tuesday, May 28), with the 'yellow' weather warning in place for a large swathe of northern and eastern England, from North Yorkshire all the way down to East Anglia.
A separate warning is in place for Northumbria, Cumbria and southern Scotland - with another covering much of Northern Ireland. A similar warning is in place for tomorrow (Wednesday, May 29) - although that encompasses just parts of Northern Scotland.
There are also 20 Environment Agency flood alerts currently in place for Southern England - and 12 for Scotland. Northern England will bear the brunt of today's rainfall, with the northwest expected to see up to 2mm of rain per hour, according to Ventusky data. Cumbria, the Isle of Man, Humberside and Lincolnshire, South West Scotland and North Wales will also experience rain, with daytime temperatures across the UK hovering around 13-15C.
The Met Office's yellow warning for thunderstorms says that there is "a small chance of fast flowing or deep floodwater causing danger to life".
The warning reads: " Whilst many places will miss them, thunderstorms will break out in some places this afternoon and move quite quickly eastwards before fading during the late afternoon or early evening. Where storms do occur, 15 to 30 mm of rain may fall in less than an hour or two in a few spots and frequent lightning, hail and gusty winds will be additional hazards."
The national forecaster says the areas covered by the warning should expect:
- Spray and sudden flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and some road closures
- There is a small chance that some communities become cut off by flooded roads
- Where flooding or lightning strikes occur, there is a chance of delays and some cancellations to train and bus services
- There is a slight chance that power cuts could occur and other services to some homes and businesses could be lost
- There is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded quickly, with damage to some buildings from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds
- There is a small chance of fast flowing or deep floodwater causing danger to life
The areas covered by the Met Office weather warnings are as follows:
East Midlands
- Derby
- Derbyshire
- Leicester
- Leicestershire
- Lincolnshire
- Nottingham
- Nottinghamshire
- Rutland
East of England
- Cambridgeshire
- Norfolk
- Peterborough
- Suffolk
North West England
- Greater Manchester
- Lancashire
Yorkshire & Humber
- East Riding of Yorkshire
- Kingston upon Hull
- North East Lincolnshire
- North Lincolnshire
- North Yorkshire
- South Yorkshire
- West Yorkshire
- York
North East England
- Northumberland
North West England
- Cumbria
SW Scotland, Lothian Borders
- Dumfries and Galloway
- East Lothian
- Midlothian Council
- Scottish Borders
Strathclyde
- East Ayrshire
- South Ayrshire
- South Lanarkshire
Northern Ireland
- County Antrim
- County Armagh
- County Down
- County Londonderry
- County Tyrone.
In its daily forecast, the Met Office said that scattered heavy showers are possible through this evening. Overnight it will remain mostly cloudy, with the risk of further showers, though these mainly focussed across northern and western areas, reports the Daily Star.
"Slowly becoming drier through Friday and into Saturday, with increasing amounts of sunshine. Temperatures near average."
BBC weather forecaster Tomasz Schafernaker described the weather outlook as "hit and miss" for the remainder of the week, with no prolonged warm spells in sight.
He said: "Temperatures will be normal, nothing spectacular but at least by the end of the week it does look as though these low pressures should finally pull away as we see high pressure building but the winds will still come in from the north so the certainly isn't any major warm up in the forecast."
The Environment Agency currently has more than 20 'amber' flood alerts in place across southern England. These warn that flooding is possible and people in the affected areas should prepare now.
The EA flood alerts are as follows:
- Bishops Sutton
Deane and Ashe in North Hampshire
Flamstead
Kimpton and Lilley Bottom
Newmarket
The Alton area
Candovers and Old Alresford
Henley and Assendon area
The High Wycombe area
Lambourn Valley catchment area
The Leckhampstead area
Villages surrounding Andover
West Ilsley, East Ilsley, Compton, Chilton and West Hagbourne
Lower River Colne and Frays River
River Coln and its tributaries
River Lambourn and its tributaries from Upper Lambourn down to Newbury
River Pang from East Ilsley to Pangbourne and Sulham Brook
River Thame, Horsenden Stream and Chalgrove Brook
River Wye and The Hughenden Stream.