Torrential rainfall soaks the UK as remnants of Hurricane Nigel to hit in coming days
The UK has seen torrential rain and strong winds on Wednesday, and it is to be battered again later this week by remnants of Hurricane Nigel.
Flood warnings were put out for parts of northern England and Wales on Wednesday, as the tail end of Hurricane Lee, which barreled across the North Atlantic from Canada, made landfall in the UK.
The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for rain across parts of south-east England from 4pm on Wednesday until 3am on Thursday.
Some areas were to see 15 to 20mm of rainfall within an hour and up to 30 to 40mm over two to three hours, the Met Office said.
The deluge was to bring a small chance of flooding to a few homes and businesses, the forecaster said.
The Met Office also warned of strong winds in western Scotland between 1pm and 7pm on Wednesday.
The warning, covering Argyll and Bute and part of the Highlands, says gusts of 50-60mph are expected fairly widely and a few places are likely to see gusts of 70-75mph, particularly across Mull and Tiree.
Bus and train services will “probably” be affected by longer journey times, the forecaster added.
Western regions are expected to see between 50mm to 100mm of rainfall, with higher altitude areas such as Snowdonia in Wales potentially seeing up to 200mm.
Grahame Madge, Met Office spokesperson, said: “Although we’ve indicated that there could be flooding associated with the reasonably high levels of rainfall, that’s not something anticipated to be widespread.
“It’s something that may be a consequence of a catchment that suddenly gets more inundated or there are blockages in drainage."
The arrival of Hurricane Nigel has prompted fresh flood warnings and predictions of “unsettled weather” at the weekend.
Mr Madge added: “On Sunday, we will start to see the influence of ex-tropical Hurricane Nigel, which will be offshore in the mid-Atlantic.
“These systems have a long reach, it will increase rainfall rates and also winds to bring unsettled weather to the UK.”
Hurricane Lee brought over “moisture” and “higher temperature air” to the UK, Mr Madge said.
The yellow warning is not to be compared to the “intense amounts” of rainfall seen over the weekend when more than 10,000 lightning strikes were recorded across the UK.
Downpours forced a Butlin’s holiday resort in Minehead, Somerset, and Exeter Airport to close temporarily.
Heavy showers and thunderstorms may hit parts of the UK on Thursday and Friday but the Met Office say they are not expected to be as severe as those on Sunday.
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