UK floods by Matt Taylor
Intense thunderstorms have caused flash flooding and spectacular lightning displays across parts of southeast England, East Anglia and Lincolnshire over the past few days.
The UK Met Office issued weather warnings for these areas through yesterday afternoon and evening, with an ‘Emergency Warning’ issued for parts of Lincolnshire for a time yesterday evening. Torrential downpours led to muddy flood waters inundating homes and roads in parts of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. The local fire services were called out to flooding incidents in Yarmouth, Bradwell, Mulbarton, Thetford and Fakenham.
Meanwhile in Scotland, weather warnings were issued for parts of the south where heavy rain fell over a prolonged period. Over 50mm (two inches) of rain was reported to have fallen at Edinburgh Airport in 24 hours yesterday. Around 10 houses near the Figgate Burn River were flooded when it burst its banks. Firefighters were using portable pumps to extract floodwater out of the houses.
The recent storms and heavy rain occurred in conjunction with the breakdown of the hot and humid weather. Cooler air from the Atlantic has been pushing down from the northwest over the past few days and has collided with the heat and humidity across the UK, generating intense downpours and thunderstorms.
A cooler, wetter regime is forecast for the UK this weekend and into the start of next week with the risk of further heavy rain in places, but not as torrential as what we have seen recently.
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