A huge storm has left some London streets submerged in water as train stations close and parts of the M25 flood.
Victoria and Kentish Town stations are experiencing flooding problems, with streets around King's Cross covered also flooded after a heavy shower on Wednesday afternoon.
The UK is set to be battered by storms after a week scorching sunshine and temperatures reaching up to 36C.
After amber warnings for extreme heat, the Met Office has issued yellow warnings for rain for the majority of England - some of which have been updated to amber.
Eleven areas in the east, south east and London have been warned by the Met Office to expect heavy rain and storms between 11am and 10pm today, with as many as two inches forecast to fall.
Flights from Gatwick have also been affected.
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In a tweet, Gatwick Airport warned that the weather conditions are likely to cause delays and cancellations to flights. It said: "Air traffic control restrictions are currently in place across the South of England and parts of Europe due to poor weather conditions.
"This will unfortunately cause delays and cancellations to some flights today."
On the M25 two lanes are closed clockwise between J11 and J12 and between J22 and J23.
After weeks of dry conditions the deluge is expected to cause flooding in several areas, with power cuts also feared.
London stations closed due to flooding
- Earl's Court
- Kentish Town
- Loughton
- Turnpike Lane
- Tottenham Hale
London Overground and the Central Line is also running a part suspended service due to the weather.
There is no service between South Tottenham and Barking Riverside due to but there is a good service on all other London Overground routes.
The Met Office warned: "Heavy showers and thunderstorms are expected to break out today leading to some flooding and disruption.
"Some places will miss these, but where they do occur, 30 to 50 mm of rain could fall in less than an hour and a few places may see in excess of 100 mm in a few hours where storms are slow moving. Lightning and hail will be additional hazards.
"Showers and storms will slowly die out this evening."
Among the areas affected by the amber alert is London, with residents and commuters warned of possible disruption owing to the conditions.
People in rural areas may also be cut off by the deluge of water after weeks of bright sunshine and high temperatures.
A separate yellow thunderstorm warning remains in place for nearly half the country, with forecasters extending it further north to include southeast Wales
A spokesman added: "The yellow area has been extended northwestwards to cover more of England and moving into southeast Wales, the start time brought forward, and the likelihood of impacts increased."
Although rain is likely to sweep across the UK on Wednesday, there is set to be sunny weather in the north while temperatures are predicted to peak in the south east with 25C highs.
It is a similar outlook for Thursday where it will be slightly warmer and could hit 26C.
Met Office forecaster Clare Nasir earliersaid: “A fine start to the day for Scotland, a light breeze and some sunshine, that sunshine extends down to northern counties of England.
"The cloud will break up across Northern Ireland, a good day here to be out and about with some brighter weather and you can see some sunshine just appearing across the north west of Wales.
"But here’s that thundery rain across the bulk of Wales and extending to Lincolnshire and some clusters of thunderstorms developing and moving very slowly across the home counties, central and southern England as well as East Anglia.
So through the day this is where the lively weather will be.”
Areas affected by the amber alert
East of England
Essex
Southend-on-Sea
Suffolk
Thurrock
London & South East England
Brighton and Hove
East Sussex
Greater London
Kent
Medway
Surrey
West Sussex
East Midlands
Leicester
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Northamptonshire
Rutland
