Thunderstorms batter southern UK as mudslide blocks road

A long winter of rain is needed to replenish Britain's water system, experts say

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  Lightning strikes during a thunderstorm in Dundee, in eastern Scotland. Reuters

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  Flooding in Port Talbot, south Wales. Yellow weather warnings are in place for most of the UK. PA

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  A pedestrian with an umbrella and Big Ben are reflected in a puddle near the Houses of Parliament, in central London. AP

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  A boy struggles with an umbrella amid blustery conditions on the South Bank, in central London. PA

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  A man leaps over a puddle as shoppers rush through a heavy downpour in London. Getty Images

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  Tourists in London. The Met Office has issued a yellow thunderstorm warning for England and Wales. AP

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  People caught in the rain on the Millennium Bridge in London. PA

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  A woman opposite the Elizabeth Tower, also known as Big Ben, in London. AP

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  Visitors to the National Waterways Museum use umbrellas during a spell of rain in Ellesmere Port. Getty Images

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  A woman walks in the rain in central London. EPA

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  Flooding in Tullow, in Ireland. Heavy downpours and flooding have hit parts of the country as thunderstorms marked the end of the heatwave. PA

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  Lightning striking across Wishaw, North Lanarkshire. PA

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  A resident makes his way through the flooding in Tullow in Ireland. PA

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  Members of staff at The Milky Way in Devon, clearing out floodwater inside the premises, as heavy rain and flooding hit areas in Cornwall and Devon. PA

Roads in Devon and Cornwall have flooded again as heavy rain and thunderstorms hit parts of the UK for the second day running.

Torrential rain flooded roads in Cornwall and Devon in the south-west, and also across the country in Haywards Heath in West Sussex.

People living in low-lying properties should make sure their valuable items are “ready to go”, or “on a higher level of your house”, due to the high flood risk, the Met Office warned.

Amber thunderstorm warnings for parts of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset were issued by the Met Office with a chance of homes and businesses flooding as well as power cuts, with fast-flowing or deep water causing danger to life, transport disruption and communities being cut off by flooded roads.

New flood alerts were issued on Tuesday for areas of the Midlands and south-east England. Yellow weather warnings are also in place for most of the UK on Tuesday and for southern England on Wednesday.

Mopping up in Devon, one of the areas hit by thunderstorms. PA

“For low-lying properties, which perhaps have been built on a floodplain, yes, there is a risk of flooding in properties,” meteorologist Clare Nasir said.

Parts of Cornwall and Devon flooded on Monday and afternoon thunderstorms developed in eastern counties, including Essex, Suffolk and Lincolnshire.

One Twitter user shared video of floodwater in Newquay, writing: “I've never seen rain like this. Our road is flooding #Newquay.”

Another Twitter user in Bishop's Tawton, north Devon, said: "(F)lash flooding causing use of sandbags to prevent water in house, despite recent flood work by @EnvAgency urgent need for solutions.”

Police were called to a mudslide on the A358 road near Combe Florey in Somerst, just outside Bishops Lydeard. Officials said 50 tonnes of mud needed to be moved off the road before it could be reopened.

Swimmers have been warned of sewage and pollution at several beaches on English coastlines, linked to the heavy rain.

The environmental campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) said sewage had gone into the waters at beaches in Cornwall, Devon, Sussex, Essex, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland and Cumbria.

Scotland also experienced travel disruption on rail networks and roads on Tuesday following heavy showers.

Visitors to the National Waterways Museum in Cheshire, England, are caught in a rain storm. Getty

In Belfast in Northern Ireland a flooded shopping centre was forced to close, and in London heavy rain fell but no damage was reported. Speed restrictions have been imposed on large sections of the railway in Scotland.

Hail, frequent lightning and flash flooding is possible in areas further south, with heavy rain predicted across England and Wales on Tuesday.

The storms come after weeks of dry, warm conditions that have caused droughts across parts of the UK, leaving land parched.

Tragedy in the heatwave

Before the weather turned, the UK had enjoyed and endured temperatures into the mid-30s. But not without tragedy.

A body was recovered on Monday night from water in Carrbrook, Greater Manchester.

“From our inquiries so far, we are confident that there are no suspicious circumstances and that this is such a sad reminder of the dangers of entering open water, whatever the weather,” said Detective Inspector Steven Horton of Tameside Police.

“We remind the public to avoid being tempted to cool off in reservoirs, rivers, canals or ponds.”

A drought was declared for Yorkshire on Tuesday. It became the ninth English region to be put under emergency orders.

Droughts were declared for the regions of Devon and Cornwall, Solent and South Downs, Kent and South London, Hertfordshire and North London, East Anglia, Thames, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, and the East Midlands last week.

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  A woman shelters from the sun on Tower Bridge, in London. AP

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  A crowd of people watch the setting sun from a hill in Ealing, west London. AP

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  People enjoy the water fountains in King's Cross, London. EPA

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  The low water level at Pontsticill Reservoir near Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Getty Images

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  Dry grass on the football pitches at Hackney Marshes in east London. PA

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  Aung-Bo, a 21-year-old Asian elephant, is cooled down by a keeper at Chester Zoo. Getty Images

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  People walk on parched grass of The Long Walk towards Windsor Castle. Reuters

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  A sunbather enjoys the warm weather in London. EPA

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  Tourists shelter from the sun as they stand outside Buckingham Palace in London. AP

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  People enjoy the hot weather as they zorb on the canal at Paddington Basin in London. PA

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  Horses from Hyde Park stables are surrounded by clouds of dust as they are ridden along a dry bridleway in the London park. Getty Images

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  The sun rises above the London skyline on Thursday morning. Reuters

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  London Fire Brigade dealing with the aftermath of a grass fire in Rainham, east London. PA

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  A water basin is cut off at Colliford Lake, where water levels have dropped to expose previously unseen trees at Cornwall's largest reservoir. AP

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  Men cool off by diving into the water at Cullercoats Bay in North Tyneside. AP

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  Scorched grass at Greenwich Park in London. AP

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  A dog cools off in a pond at Richmond Park in London. AP

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  Large areas of grass have turned yellow due to the dry conditions in Edinburgh. AP

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  A young man takes a dip in the Peover Eye, a small river that meanders through the Cheshire countryside. Getty Images

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  Dry fairways at Chelsfield Lakes club in Orpington have made for bouncy, unpredictable golfing conditions. Getty Images

Footage shared on social media showed a roundabout near the river in Truro, Cornwall, quickly flooding on Monday afternoon.

Ruan Sims, manager of the HiQ Tyre and Autocare garage on the roundabout, told PA that the road had flooded in the past but he had never seen the water rise so high.

He said the water flooded in as suddenly as the rain started but then fully drained away about 10 minutes later when the sun came out.

“It was quite mad,” he said. “It didn’t go into the garage but it came right up to the wall.”

Mr Sims said cars were driving through the water slowly but he saw that a few had stopped until the water level started to go down again.

UK’s second heatwave this summer comes with drought and wildfire warning — video

Hannah Cloke, an expert in hydrology at the University of Reading, said: “The ground is really dry and when it is so dry, it acts a little bit like concrete and water can’t get in, so it drains straight off.

“There is the damage to homes and businesses these floods can cause, and inconvenience with transport disruptions, but if [the rain] is very heavy in one place, it can also be very dangerous.”

On how it could affect cities and towns, she said: “If you get heavy rain in a city, the drainage system can cope up to a point, but if there is really heavy rain it can overwhelm the system — the rain cannot run away quickly enough.”

In rural areas, Ms Cloke said this sort of flooding often hit low points in roads and under bridges. “It is very dangerous to drive through floodwater,” she said.

Explaining why the heavy rain would not alleviate drought-hit areas, she said: “It’s a drop in the ocean really. It is not soaking into the soil, which is how we really need it. We need it back into the system where it can be stored.

“We really need a long winter of rain to replenish this.”