The Met Office yesterday issued an amber warning – meaning there is a “potential threat to life” as heavy rainfall approached the UK.
The alert covered north and north-west England, mid-Wales, south Wales, Cornwall and Devon. Mid-Wales is likely to be worst hit, with as much as 3.5 inches of rain expected to fall in 16 hours, equivalent to three weeks of average March rain.
The downpour began last night and is expected to continue well into this morning.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
An amber warning indicates a risk of power cuts, rapidly-moving floods and damage to buildings. A less-severe yellow warning was last night in place for parts of England including the cities of Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield and Huddersfield, says Sky News.
The Met office forecaster Greg Dewhurst said: “The ground is already saturated and with all the rainfall we have had over recent weeks it is likely to lead to further flooding in places.”
Wales has been badly hit by floods already this year and both the rivers Severn and Wye have their upper reaches in the area where the worst of last night’s rain was expected. Boris Johnson visited flood-hit parts of Worcester, on the river Severn, last weekend.
-
How China is battling the chikungunya virusUnder The Radar Thousands of cases of the debilitating disease have been found in the country
-
Deep thoughts: AI shows its math chopsFeature Google's Gemini is the first AI system to win gold at the International Mathematical Olympiad
-
Book reviews: 'Face With Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji' and 'Blood Harmony: The Everly Brothers Story'Feature The surprising history of emojis and the brother duo who changed pop music
-
FEMA Urban Search and Rescue chief resignsSpeed Read Ken Pagurek has left the organization, citing 'chaos'
-
Why are flash floods in Texas so deadly?Today's Big Question Over 100 people, including 27 girls at a summer camp, died in recent flooding
-
Search for survivors continues after Texas floodsSpeed Read A total of 82 people are confirmed dead, including 28 children
-
Why the weather keeps getting 'stuck'In the Spotlight Record hot and dry spring caused by 'blocked' area of high pressure above the UK
-
Parts of California are sinking and affecting sea levelUnder the radar Climate change is bringing the land to the sea
-
At least 95 dead in Spain flash floodsSpeed Read Torrential rainfall caused the country's worst flooding since 1996
-
Colombo's wetlands: how the 'lungs' of Sri Lanka's capital are being restoredUnder the radar The revival of the ecosystems could prove a 'valuable lesson' for the world
-
Hurricane Helene death toll rises, North Carolina reelsSpeed Read At least 95 are dead following catastrophic flooding
