UK weather: Rain warnings as flooding hits roads and rail

Motorists have been urged to stay off roads as heavy rain causes “atrocious” conditions across the UK.

Some rail lines have been impacted and authorities in West Sussex have urged people to “only travel if necessary” after 20 cars became stuck on the A27.

The Met Office warned there could be a danger to life in parts of eastern Scotland, where an amber alert has been issued for Friday.

More than 100 flood alerts have been issued by the Environment Agency.

A yellow warning is in place for England, stretching across Manchester, Hull and Newcastle for the whole of Thursday until 07:00 GMT on Friday.

Flooding and spray on roads could increase journey times and a few homes and businesses could flood, the Met Office has warned.

Travellers have already faced widespread disruption, with commuters stranded as train lines were blocked by flooding.

Kate Priest, from Shoreham, a coastal town in West Sussex, did not get home until 02:50 on Thursday morning – five hours later than expected, after severe flooding blocked the line from London.

“It was completely miserable,” she told the BBC. “At one point I thought I’m going to have to sleep on the train.”

She said she and her fellow passengers spent three hours stuck at Haywards Heath station in the pouring rain, before the Southern train retraced its steps and eventually took a different line to the coast.

Aberdeen City Council, which has cancelled its Christmas tree lights switch-on event because of the weather forecast, has urged residents in flood-prone areas to stock up on sandbags and other flood-prevention tools.

ScotRail said it was putting 40mph speed restrictions on some services from Thursday afternoon as “over a month’s worth of rain” is expected to fall across eastern Scotland over the next two days.

Lines affected include parts of the routes from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, Stirling to Dundee and Ladybank to Perth.

Fyvie Castle, a National Trust property in Aberdeenshire, has decided to close its grounds as a result of the “heavy rain and high winds forecast”.

The first half of November has seen more than double the average amount of rainfall across south-east England with an additional 50mm (1.97in) of rain in places over the last 24 hours.

This rain, falling on already saturated ground, has led to some flooding issues, with road and railway links affected.

Weather warnings have already been issued by the Met Office, with an amber warning in place for heavy rain across parts of eastern Scotland.

There could be some further localised flooding as a slow-moving band of rain gradually pushes across eastern England and eastern Scotland over the next day or two, with up to 100mm (3.9in) of rain possible across the hills of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

The weather pattern then stays very unsettled with more rain bands crossing the UK over the weekend and next week.

Craig Snell from the Met Office said many places in south-east England have already seen “more than their month’s share of rain”.

“The warning areas are where we are most concerned about the risk of flooding but it doesn’t mean that the areas outside them are not going to see some pretty atrocious conditions.”

He said Scotland could see “two days of persistent rain” and this may result in snow falling in the Scottish Highlands – although this is not unusual for November.

Parts of Wales are also set to experience heavy rain, with the Met Office predicting 30-40mm (1.1-1.5in) of rain could fall over a 24-hour period.

The Environment Agency said it had been closely monitoring the situation and advised people to stay away from swollen rivers and not to drive though flood water.

Flood duty manager Chris Wilding said the heavy rain across England is “expected to lead to minor surface water flooding and river flooding impacts”.

The M23 motorway in Sussex was closed after heavy rain caused disruption. The road between Junction 10 for Crawley and Junction 11 for Pease Pottage was reopened after several hours, but some lanes remain shut.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said it responded to 70 incidents overnight and warned motorists not to drive through deep floodwater.

Flooding also caused disruption to Southern services between Lewes and Brighton and the cancellation of trains on the Isle of Wight on Thursday morning.

Police in Winchester, in Hampshire, warned the public about a large tree that had come down and blocked a road in Swanmore.

Services between Tonbridge and Hastings have resumed after a fault involving a blown fuse and a melted piece of signalling equipment was fixed.

See more here bbc.co.uk

Editor’s note: For once the BBC did not blame ‘climate change’, but this story is so ironic after the BBC spent most of the summer warning us that drought would be the norm thanks to our wicked ways.

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