More wet weather could cause flooding and disruption to London this weekend as the Met Office issues a yellow rain warning for southern parts of England in the wake of Storm Babet.
The warning has been issued from midnight on Saturday to 6am on Sunday, with heavy rain and thundery showers expected in London and central southern and southeast England, including Portsmouth, Brighton and Canterbury.
Flooding is possible which could lead to disruption of train and bus services, the Met Office said, while warning of a "slight chance" of power cuts.
Fifteen to 30 millimetres of rain could fall with winds gusting up to 55 miles per hour, the forecaster added.
In London, heavy showers are set to begin on Friday and will develop into the weekend, mixed with some sunny spells.
Temperatures remain mild, around the mid-teens over Saturday and Sunday.
⚠️ Yellow weather warning issued ⚠️
— Met Office (@metoffice) October 26, 2023
Heavy rain and thundery showers in central southern and southeast England
Saturday 0000 – Sunday 0600
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Stay #WeatherAware⚠️ pic.twitter.com/gpJdKTnivs
A yellow rain warning has been issued for parts of eastern Scotland from 12pm on Thursday to 12pm on Saturday.
It covers Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee, and Perth and Kinross – most of which saw prolonged downpours causing problems for residents last week, including flooding.
Brechin in Angus was the worst affected area in north-east Scotland, and hundreds of homes had to be evacuated after the river South Esk breached its banks.
The Met Office said on Wednesday: “An area of low pressure becomes firmly in charge over the next few days to bring plenty of showers and further rainfall, especially to parts of eastern Scotland.”
The latest Scottish Flood Forecast update said: “There is a possibility of some localised impacts from rivers and surface water on Thursday and Friday in the north east, Caithness and Sunderland, and Easter Ross and Great Glen due to further heavy rain.
“Rivers levels in the north east are not forecast to be as high as experienced during Storm Babet and widespread significant flooding is not currently expected.”
Elsewhere, Network Rail Scotland warned: “More extremely heavy rain is on the way. It won’t be to the levels from Storm Babet, but it will affect the same areas, already with saturated ground. It will bring a risk of flooding.”
Seven people are known to have died in the UK during Storm Babet, including three people north of the border.
They were Wendy Taylor, 57, of Perthshire; John Gillan, 56, of Arbroath; and Peter Pelling, 61, also of Arbroath.
Storm Babet caused King's Cross station in London to close last Saturday due to overcrowding as LNER services were disrupted.
Crowd control measures were introduced after swarms of people gathered on the concourse and platforms.
Meanwhile hundreds of residents in a town in Nottinghamshire were urged to evacuate amid severe flooding on Saturday.
Torrential rain caused record water levels along the River Idle in Retford, with Nottinghamshire County Council declaring a major incident.
