The UK has woken up to heavy rain and rumblings of thunder as the Met Office releases amber and yellow weather warnings.
All of London, Brighton and parts of Cambridge have been issued an amber alert with forecasters fearing torrential rain and flooding.
The warning is in place from 4am to 11am today, with 20-40mm of rain expected too fall in an hour, and up to 70-100mm accumulating in just a few hours.
Meanwhile the majority of England is under a yellow warning for thunderstorms until 9pm today.
The wet weather is expected to lead to disruption such as road closures and power cuts.
Parts of Scotland, including Edinburgh and Aberdeen, has been issued a separate yellow warning for rain from 4pm today until 12pm tomorrow.
Met Office Chief Meteorologist, Andy Page, said: ‘Intense rainfall will impact parts of the UK as thunderstorms move in from France.
‘A range of severe weather warnings have been issued, including an Amber warning covering southeast England and London. The intense rainfall could lead to surface water flooding as well as frequent lightning and hail too.
‘The situation is evolving, and warnings may be changed or added. This weekend is expected to be busy on the roads as more schools in England and Wales break up for the summer holidays, so it’s important people keep up-to-date with the very latest forecast.
‘There will be spells of more pleasant weather in parts of the UK through the weekend, with some sunny spells in between systems as they move through.’
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The wet weather is expected to continue all weekend, with widespread showers forecast on Sunday.
The last Amber warning issued over London was for wind on 2 January 2024 when Storm Henk brought very strong winds across central parts of England and Wales.
Wales, Cornwall, Merseyside, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and the Scottish border are forecast to avoid the worst of the stormy weather.
The wet weather comes just in time as regions across the UK declare drought and enter into hosepipe bans.
So far, South East Water and Yorkshire Water hosepipe bans are in effect, while Thames Water and Southern Water’s bans will begin next week.
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