UK weather: Britain set for weekend washout with flood warnings across country

A cyclist riding past a stranded car in Birmingham after heavy rain hit this week
PA
Tim Baker28 September 2019

Britain is in line for a weekend washout with heavy rain prompting flood warnings across the country.

Downpours have already prompted a mudslide in north Yorkshire while a race meeting at Haydock in Merseyside was cancelled due to waterlogged conditions on Saturday.

The inaugural Regatta London race, which was due to take place on the River Thames on Sunday, has also been cancelled.

Organisers said they were unable to safely run the event due to "stormy weather" affecting the river's water quality.

More rain is expected across parts of the UK until Tuesday, with the worst of the weather likely to hit the West Country, Wales and the north west, as well as parts of Scotland.

Twenty five flood alerts, which warn people to be aware for possible flooding, have also been issued across England due to the expected rainfall.

Train operator Northern said no trains were running between Lancaster and Skipton following the mudslide near Bentham.

A spokesman said: "The mud has completely covered the track in both directions meaning we cannot run trains between Lancaster and Skipton.

"The mudslide was discovered at around 7.45am when a Lancaster to Leeds service encountered problems on the line."

In a statement on Twitter, Haydock Park Races said: "Following the inspection this morning, unfortunately today's Craft Beer & Gin Day has been abandoned as the track remains waterlogged."

The final four races of Friday's event at the racecourse had been cancelled due to the weather.

UK weather - In pictures

1/7

Flooding in Brampton, Cumbria, caused delays to trains between Carlisle and Newcastle, although National Rail said trains were beginning to return to normal shortly before 9am.

There was some disruption on the roads, with the entry sliproad of the M65 at junction 10 for Burnley, Lancashire, closed due to flooding.

It comes after wet weather hit the UK last week, leading to travel chaos when four different London stations ended up flooding.

Describing the conditions in London, meteorologist Luke Miall said it will be a "weekend of two halves".

He said Saturday will be mostly sunny with some rain in the capital, but that "heavy showers", thunder and gusts of up to 30mph are forecast for Sunday.

Rain caused flooding at stations in London earlier this week 
Stephanie Cockroft

Temperatures are forecast to reach highs of 19C on both days.

The bad weather follows on from an unsettled Friday, which saw a water spout form near the Isle of Scalpay in the Outer Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said areas such as Devon and Cornwall could see coastal gales of up to 50mph, while between 30mm and 40mm is expected to fall within the warning area over the weekend.

Cities including Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Bangor, Swansea and Cardiff are covered by the weather warning.

Mr Burkill said: "We have got a deep area of low pressure that will bring heavy and persistent rain, and strong winds too.

"In terms of rainfall totals, the greatest amounts could be up to 70mm. That will be over the hills and mountains.

"Away from there, some places could see 30mm to 40mm in a short space of time."

He said there is "likely" to be some disruption to travel over the weekend, with "lots of spray on the roads".

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in