Flood warnings have been issued across large swathes of the UK after forecasters predicted a month’s worth of rain could fall in a single day.
Yellow alerts have been raised by the Met Office covering much of east, central and southeast England, from early Monday morning all the way through to midnight on Thursday.
Rain and gales will lash rural areas and major cities including London, Portsmouth, Norwich, Birmingham, Nottingham and Hull in the first part of the week before slowly moving north through to Newcastle and onto southern and central Scotland.
A yellow warning means there is a chance that roads could be submerged, transport disrupted, homes and businesses flooded, and some rural communities cut off.
“There is a possibility of up to 60mm of rain within a 24-hour period,” forecaster Simon Partridge told The Independent. “Even where it doesn’t reach quite that amount, we could still see about 30mm.”
The average total rainfall for the whole of June is 62mm.
Temperatures will simultaneously drop to 14C in the southeast and 12-13C elsewhere, while wind speeds could reach 40mph in coastal regions making it feel even colder.
“In some areas, I’m afraid to say it’s going to feel like a real return to winter,” said Mr Partridge.
Even in parts of the country not covered by flood warnings – west England and Wales mainly – there will still likely be heavy showers and blustery conditions throughout the week.
Only western Scotland and Northern Ireland can expect sustained periods of sunshine.
“The problem is this weather front isn’t moving which is why the warnings cover four days,” said Mr Partridge. “It’s come up via the southeast from the continent and will stick around for several days.”
There is further bad news too for those with anything planned next weekend; the summer still won’t have fully recovered.
Weather will remain changeable with showers likely all the way through to at least Saturday.
