Met Office issues urgent flood alerts for 21 UK areas from 9pm
The Met Office has warned of potential heavy rain and thunder across areas of England and Wales this weekend
Flood alerts have been issued across areas of England as a 21-hour Met Office weather warning comes into force for much of the country.
On Saturday morning the Met Office issued the yellow weather warning, which advises that 'heavy and at times thundery' downpours were possible across many areas of England and Wales over the weekend.
The Met Office weather warning is in force from 9pm on Saturday until 6pm on Sunday - with some disruption to travel and power supplies also possible.
As of 7.30pm on Saturday, the Environment Agency has flood alerts, which mean flooding is possible in an area and people should be prepared, in place for 17 areas of England.
These are mainly across the Southwest of the county, including parts of Cornwall and Devon, as well as the East Midlands including Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.
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A number of the alerts issued for the East Midlands states: "Thunderstorms and heavy rainfall are forecast over the next 24 hours, with low confidence over exact timing and locations. We are closely monitoring the situation.
"Please avoid using low-lying footpaths near local watercourses and plan driving routes to avoid low-lying roads near rivers, which may be flooded."
The number of alerts and their locations may rise or fall over the coming hours as the weather picture becomes clearer.
The Met Office weather warning states: "Whilst there remains some uncertainty with exact details, areas of heavy and at times thundery rain are expected to spread north, then west, across England and Wales from this evening and overnight.
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"These areas of heavy rain may become more persistent across western areas during Sunday daytime whilst slow-moving heavy showers and thunderstorms are likely to develop further east.
"Rainfall amounts will vary considerably across the warning area with some locations seeing less than 10 mm of rainfall whilst others see 40-60 mm of rain.
"There is a lower chance that a few spots within the warning area could see 80-100 mm of rain by the end of Sunday which may fall in a fairly small period of time.
"These higher totals are slightly more probable in the southern half of the warning area. Given this region has also seen a lot of rain since Thursday, impacts may be more likely than would normally be expected for the time of year here."
