UK weather: Thunderstorms bring travel disruption as warnings issued for England and Scotland

Met Office warns of flooding risk due to heavy downpours and storms

Heavy rain and thunderstorms have brought travel disruption to parts of the UK as the country’s dismal summer weather continues this week.

The Met Office issued yellow warnings on Monday for thunderstorms covering parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and southern England, with the weather service advising that heavy showers and storms could trigger flooding.

Forecasters also warned that downpours could lead to parts of England seeing 20-40mm of rain over two or three hours in some places, while parts of Scotland could face 50-70mm of rain over several hours.

The warnings for England, covering the east of England, London, the southeast and the southwest, and Northern Ireland lasted until 9pm.

The warning for Scotland, covering Central, Tayside and Fife, Grampian, southwest Scotland, Lothian Borders and Strathclyde, was in place until 11pm.

Earlier in the day, a Met Office spokesperson described the thunderstorms as “quite variable” and noted that some locations in the warning areas would not necessarily see heavy rain.

“Not everywhere within those warning areas will see those heavy thundery downpours,” Oli Claydon said.

“Where the thunderstorms do fall the rain could be quite intense and quite heavy.”

It came as ScotRail said that “significant downpours” had led to a line between Dalmuir and Hyndland via Yoker in Scotland being closed.

Meanwhile, thundery showers brought torrential rain to Edinburgh and parts of the Lothians, leading to ScotRail warning of cancellations between Milngavie and Edinburgh via Airdrie and Bathgate due to flooding.

Heavy rain also broke out across Northern Ireland, where motorists were urged to take care on the roads due to standing water and spray.

In England, the rail operator Greater Anglia warned that lines between Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire and Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex had been blocked due to flooding, while footage taken in west London showed cars ploughing through a flooded street.

Additional reporting by PA