Heavy overnight rain flooded areas of London and the south-east of England, bringing chaos to commuters on Thursday.
Rail and Tube trains were cancelled or delayed and parts of major roads and a motorway were also blocked in places.
Sections of the M25 in north London and at least three major roads — the A1, A41 and A40 arteries into the city — were blocked.
A Met Office yellow warning for rain will stay in effect until 3pm.
It said that flooding on roads would make journey times longer, and that bus and train services would be affected.
“Heavy rain will affect south-eastern parts of England during Thursday morning, clearing eastward early afternoon. 20-30 mm of rain is expected fairly widely, with 40mm in a few places near English Channel coasts,” the warning said.
“The ground is fairly wet, and recent fallen leaves may reduce drainage of surface water in some locations.”
Several Tube lines were suffering disruption early on Thursday, with flooding and signal failures forcing cancellations.
Services on the District line were suspended between Earl's Court and Richmond and Ealing Broadway.
Trains are running between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction, one of the busiest stations outside central London.
Southern Rail has also cancelled some services.
“Belmont will not have a train service due to flooding,” the company tweeted.
“You'll need to use London Buses to complete your journey and you can use your ticket at no extra cost.”
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Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
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Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
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Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
