Freak thunderstorms bring flood chaos

This evening areas in south London were bearing the brunt of the downpour of torrential rains, which were brought on by the recent burst of muggy weather.

London Fire Brigade reported taking hundreds of flooding-related calls within just an hour and said they were still coming in thick and fast. Lightning also struck a house in Stanmore, north-west London, causing a house fire, LFB said.

The Dulwich area was particularly badly hit by rain with cars marooned in flooded roads. One Dulwich resident said: "The depth of the water on some of the roads was more than 1ft. On some cars, water was even lapping as high as the windscreen."

Thunderstorms, flooding and heavy rain, which have already struck in other parts of the country, were expected to continue overnight and into tomorrow, forecasters said.

A month's worth of rain!

A spokeswoman for the Press Association WeatherCentre said: "We have obviously got these storms moving through London at the moment and there are more in France. They look like they are heading our way during the night and they could be very heavy with rain, lightning and thunder. There could also be more flooding."

The heavy rain caused chaos in parts of the West Midlands yesterday as storms brought the equivalent of an entire month's rainfall over Worcester within two hours. A massive clear-up operation was mounted in scores of homes across Worcestershire and parts of north Herefordshire.

More than 100 incidents were reported in the space of four hours. The worst hit area was the low-lying Warnden village on the outskirts of the city while roads in Worcester city centre were flooded.

Lightning struck two homes for the elderly in Evesham and north Worcester, a semi-detached house in Bromsgrove and Leominster police station. No one was injured in the incidents, according to reports.

Flash-flooding assessment

Worcester Labour MP Michael Foster later called on both the city council and the Environment Agency to conduct an assessment of areas known to be likely to flash-flood.

Mr Foster, who is also chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Flood Prevention, said: "Yesterday's events showed that parts of our city, well away from main river courses, are prone to flash-flooding.

"I know we had a real downpour in Worcester, but all the climate predictions suggest such events are more likely to occur in the future. That is why it is important to know exactly where flooding took place, and to look at why.

"It could be that surface water drains simply couldn't cope with the volume of water, in which case we have to look at alternatives. We should also investigate the condition of these drains.

"There is also a stark lesson for all of us. Climate change will make such downpours a more regular event in Britain. We ignore global warming at our peril."

Flash-flooding also affected parts of the North East of England and Yorkshire earlier this week. Other parts of the country look set to escape the storms, which were caused by a wave of humid air from the Continent.

Max Herd