Met Office upgrades thunderstorm warning for London and South East to amber

Heavy rain is hitting the area after months of dry and scorching situations (Image: PA/Getty Photos)

A ‘hazard to life’ amber climate warning has been issued in London and the South East because the area faces heavy thunderstorms.

The Met Workplace alert was upgraded from a much less extreme yellow warning masking a a lot bigger portion of the UK.

It is going to run from 11am this morning to 10pm tonight, with the potential for energy cuts and communities being lower off by waterlogged roads.

Flooding of houses and companies is ‘probably and will occur rapidly’, forecasters warn, whereas ‘quick flowing or deep floodwater is probably going, inflicting hazard to life’.

Round 30 to 50 mm of rain may fall in lower than an hour in sure locations, and a few may even see in extra of 100 mm in just a few hours, forecasters say.

Drivers ought to handle perilous situations on the roads, and commuters ought to double examine for any cancellations or disruption.

It comes after elements of Devon, Cornwall and Somerset had been flooded earlier this week because the nation’s long-lasting and record-breaking dry spell got here to an finish.

A much less extreme yellow climate warning is masking a a lot bigger chunk of the UK (Image: Metro.co.uk)

Commuters braving heavy rain by King’s Cross station yesterday (Image: REX/Shutterstock)

London’s long-running dry spell is coming to an finish, however some dangers stay (Image: Reuters)

With some locations within the UK going all summer season with none substantial rainfall, it could be tempting to welcome information of thunderstorms.

However the Met Workplace has warned that heavy heavy rainfall hitting bone-dry floor may have some damaging penalties.

Earlier this week forecaster Dan Suri stated: ‘When that heavy rain is falling on extraordinarily dry floor, the danger of flash flooding is way more pronounced.

‘With no significant rainfall in some southern areas since June, soils in these areas have grow to be baked by the solar turning them into arduous nearly impenetrable surfaces.

‘Any rainfall in these areas received’t have the ability to soak away and as an alternative it'll wash off soils and different arduous surfaces, creating flash flooding in some areas.

Commuters have been urged to double examine journey occasions attributable to potential disruption (Image: Getty Photos)

The amber climate warning runs from 11am to 10pm right this moment (Image: PA)

Londoners braving the rain on the Millennium Bridge yesterday (Image: PA)

‘This extra water can quickly inundate some flood-prone areas. Specific areas of cautions are low-lying stretches of street and people areas adjoining sloping fields the place water can rapidly run off, creating fast-emerging hazards.’

At the moment the Surroundings Company has issued 22 flood alerts for quite a lot of locations within the South East and the Midlands.

Households have been suggested to place collectively ‘seize baggage’ of necessities in preparation for a worst case situation.

Earlier this week the Surroundings Company stated greater than three million households in England had been susceptible to floor water flooding.

One other 300,000 had been in danger in Wales and Scotland, officers added. Individuals residing in ‘low-lying properties’ have been suggested to maintain their valuables on ‘the next stage’ of their houses, or ensure they're ‘able to go’.

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