London (Parliament Politics Magzine) – Parts of the UK to be battered by 60mph winds after a week of weighty rain and floods.
Winds of up to 60mph are placed to pummel the UK bringing potential travel trouble, days after heavy rain carried flooding. The Met Office has administered a yellow rain alert covering much of southern England and South Wales from 4 pm on Sunday to 9 am on Monday. The caution means further heavy rain is likely to generate some travel delays and flooding.
How much rain is expected over the weekend?
London has narrowly dodged the yellow weather warning, but heavy rain is predicted in the capital on Monday. Elsewhere, in areas surrounded by the weather warning, between 20-30mm of rain could be witnessed within the warning area over nine to 12 hours on Sunday, and 50-80mm could fall in some localised areas on higher ground, the Met Office stated.
Becky Mitchell, Met Office meteorologist, expressed it was “not a huge amount of rain” but because of the recent weather “river levels are quite high and grounds are quite saturated”, so more flooding could occur. The Environment Agency had 48 flood alerts, indicating flooding is expected, and 90 flood alerts, where flooding is likely, in place across England on Saturday morning.
Which regions are under yellow weather warnings?
Meanwhile, a yellow warning for wind is also expected to cause disruption across south-west England and Wales between 9 am on Sunday and the end of the day. Gusts of between 50-60mph could be witnessed, with large waves, trees brought down, travel trouble and some power cuts, Miss Mitchell stated. There could potentially be additional rain warnings issued for Monday, but it is predicted to be drier later in the week, she added.
The Met Office expressed temperatures this weekend will be 3-4C below average, and on Sunday they will be in the inferior double figures, the forecaster stated. It comes after areas across England mourned heavy rain and localised flooding in recent days, with commuters meeting widespread disruption on road and rail services.
Which Regions are already flooded?
Approximately 650 properties were flooded in Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and the home counties, according to the Environment Agency, which calculated around 8,200 properties had been protected. Rail services between Shrewsbury in Shropshire and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands were withdrawn on Friday after severe flooding at Wellington station and a tree on the line earlier.
The slope at the SEAH Stadium in Wellington, home to Telford United football club, was thoroughly flooded on Thursday evening. The Marston Vale line in Bedfordshire, which manages services between Bedford and Bletchley, is adjourned until Monday because of standing water on the track.
