Clear-up begins after South of England hit by flash flooding from torrential downpours

  • Rapid downpours have flooded businesses in Hampshire, leaving thousands of pounds worth of damage, as ITV News Meridian's Chlöe Oliver reports

The clear-up is underway after parts of the South of England were hit by torrential downpours overnight, causing flash flooding and treacherous driving conditions.

Residents in Winchester reported the city centre becoming submerged, with some areas the water being knee-deep.

Cars battled through the heavy downpours and floodwater across Hampshire.

Nearly two month's worth of rainfall came down in just an hour on Thursday evening.

Bins in Winchester city-centre became submerged in floodwater during heavy downpours. Credit: Nicholas Pain

Hartley Wintney Traditional Butchers, based on the high street of the Hampshire village, had to start covering the ground as flood water entered its shop.

The Met Office has warned the conditions could lead to road closures, cancellations to train and bus services, and power cuts.

Flooding of homes and businesses could happen quickly, the forecaster warned, with damage to some buildings from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds.

A business in Hartley Wintney affected by the flooding Credit: Julianne Moore

A gift shop in Hartley Wintney was another local business affected. The owner says they have lost more than £100,000 worth of stock in the last 12 hours in the flood.

Owner Julianne Moore said: "When we got to the back of the shop the water was standing up to hip-height so there was no way we could actually get into the shop.

"The alarms were going off, you could see the electrics had gone, and we just had lakes everywhere."

The Independent Giftware & Ladieswear Retailer will be closed for the foreseeable future Credit: Julianne Moore

A spokesperson for Hampshire County Council said: “We are aware of a number of incidents of flooding across the County as a consequence of the extremely heavy rain fall last evening and appreciate how upsetting this is for those affected.

"At this stage, we are unable to comment on the specific circumstances or causes of any individual event until we have had the opportunity to investigate properly, those incidents which are reported to us.

"We would, therefore, ask anyone impacted by last night’s events to report this flooding to us using our online form at: Report flooding | Hampshire County Council (hants.gov.uk).”

  • ITV News Meridian's weather presenter Holly Green

Met Office meteorologist Kathryn Chalk said the warning covers “quite a big area” from parts of the South East.

“This could lead to disruption, and some spray on the roads,” she said.

Kathryn Chalk said there could also be “torrential downpours” as well as “gusty winds, frequent lightning, and hail”.

She added that parts of the warning zone could see up to 50mm of rain in an hour or two.

Heading into today, she said there was still a chance of thunderstorms in the east of England, with temperatures of up to 30C.

While on Saturday, outbreaks of rain are expected in the south of England, with the highest temperatures around 25C-26C.

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