Flood alerts issued for England

Flood alerts have been issued in England after heavy showers and thunderstorms on Thursday, the Met Office said.

Torrential downpours battered the UK on Thursday as almost a month’s worth of rain fell in an hour in Greater London, according to the weather forecaster.

A flood alert has been issued on Friday for Rivers Eden and Eden Brook in the south east of England, and Upper River Loddon in the south west.

Across the weekend, England and Wales will be largely dry with sunny spells, with highs of 25C in southern England on Saturday and Sunday, and lows of 20C further north.

Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said: “What’s replacing the previous weather regime is a transition back to more changeable conditions for the UK, albeit still retaining some level of sunshine at times.”

On Saturday, showers will continue in the north west, though for much of England and Wales, it will be a dry day with sunny spells.

Sunday is likely to be increasingly wet for western Scotland and Northern Ireland, and some places in south-west Scotland may see an excess of 70mm of rain from Sunday into Monday, the Met Office said.

Sunday will be a fine day for England and Wales, with sunny spells and the odd light shower in parts of northern England.

Next week is predicted to be changeable, with bright, dry and sunny periods at times, interrupted by some more unsettled interludes through the week.

Rain will move from west to east gradually, and those further south east will generally see less frequent rain.

Mr Dixon said: “An Environment Agency rain gauge at New Addington, Greater London, recorded 53.4mm of rain as part of yesterday’s thundery outbreaks.”

Average total rainfall for August in the same area is 56mm, the forecaster said.

“However, such is the nature of these localised thundery outbreaks, some private rain gauges that are not a part of the official Met Office network recorded higher totals through the day in parts of southern and central England,” Mr Dixon added.