Thunderstorms and torrential rain to sweep across UK as weather warning issued for flash flooding

18 June 2023, 12:59

Thunder, lightning and heavy rain is set to lash large swathes of the UK this Father's Day.

The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms almost entirely covers England and Wales between noon and midnight on Sunday, and there is also one until 9pm in Northern Ireland.

Torrential rain is on the cards, with as much as 80mm falling within three to six hours in the worst affected regions.

There is also the potential for frequent lightning, strong winds and hail - which could cause flooding, travel issues and power cuts.

However, temperatures are still expected to soar, reaching the mid 20s.

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Grahame Madge, for the Met Office, said: "Some of the storms have the potential to be quite intense, with high rainfall rates.

"Some locations may well miss them all together but all we can do now is indicate that there is a risk across both countries."

He added: "We will keep the yellow warning closely monitored and if we need to escalate that for local areas then we will."

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Sarah Cook, of the Environment Agency, said: "On Sunday afternoon and into the night, slow-moving heavy showers and thunderstorms could lead to localised surface water flooding across England.

"Environment Agency teams are out on the ground and will support local authorities in responding to surface water flooding."