Flooding sparks travel chaos as Met Office issues rain warnings across the UK

• Warning over thunderstorms plus ten flood alerts in England and 30 in Wales
• Daytime highs of 15C (59F) this weekend, about 11C lower than last weekend 

Flooding brought travel chaos to Britain today as the Met Office warned nearly three inches of rain could hit today before a sub-zero cold snap begins this weekend.

Sections of motorways and railway lines shut this morning with travel disruption expected throughout today as a weather warning remains in place until 8pm.

Motorists were warned to take extra care due to hazardous surface water on roads, thunderstorms could hit and there were ten flood alerts in England and 30 in Wales.

Chilly but bright conditions will follow this weekend with daytime highs of just 15C (59F) expected in southern England and overnight lows of -4C (25F) in Scotland.

It will be a stark contrast to the past week which saw the longest run of consecutive October days above 25C (77F) since 1959, with four recorded between Saturday and Tuesday. Sunday was the UK’s warmest October day in five years at 25.8C (78.4F).

Today, flooding was affecting major roads including the M32 in Bristol which was closed in both directions in the junction three area due following heavy rainfall.

Met Office rain warning

Here are the details of the Met Office yellow weather warning for rain: 

9pm yesterday until 8pm today

Occasionally heavy rain will reach south-west Britain Thursday evening, then spread across much of England and Wales on Friday.

What to expect:

• Spray and flooding on roads probably making journey times longer
• Flooding of a few homes and businesses is likely
• Bus and train services probably affected with journey times taking longer

Further details:

Rain, heavy and persistent at times, is expected to develop through Thursday evening, before affecting much of England and Wales through Friday. 

Rain gradually clears from the north through Friday afternoon and evening. Widely 10-20 mm of rain is likely but in the wettest spots 30-50mm is possible, and some high ground of Wales especially could see 60 to 70mm. 

Across the south of the area its possible some thunderstorms may break out, and these could bring 20-30mm of rainfall in a couple of hours.

National Highways said contractors were on scene and working to clear the flood as soon as possible, with traffic being diverted via the exit and entry slip roads.

This also caused congestion between junctions one and three of the M32, with delays reported of 15 minutes against expected traffic conditions. 

Just outside Swansea, Traffic Wales issued a warning for flooding on the M4 eastbound at Junction 44 for Llansamlet, with speed restrictions in place.

The weather was also causing issues on the railways, with some trains unable to call at Aberystwyth in Ceredigion due to downpours flooding the line between the coast and Machynlleth in Powys.

Flooding at Ferryside in Carmarthenshire was also causing disruption between Carmarthen, Llandeilo and Llanelli, affecting services on Great Western Railway and Transport for Wales.

Meanwhile, as wind speeds were forecast to hit up to 60mph, a tree fell onto the Southeastern track at Sturry in Kent which blocked all lines between Canterbury West and Minster.

Today’s rainfall was accompanied by a Met Office warning covering England from Manchester, Leeds and north Lincolnshire southwards, and the whole of Wales.

The warning began at 9pm last night and forecasters predicted transport disruption from spray and flooding.

Met Office meteorologist Oli Claydon said many areas could see between 10mm (0.4in) and 20mm (0.8in) of rain but heavier downpours totalling 30mm (1.2in) to 50mm (2in) could fall on higher ground.

There could even be up to 70mm (2.8in) in the worst-affected areas, which are most likely to be parts of Wales.

Up to 20mm (0.8in) to 30mm (1.2in) of rain could fall ‘within two hours if heavy showers and thunderstorms develop over southern England’, the Met Office said.

Average rainfall for the whole of October in England normally totals 90.24mm (3.55in) and 158.49mm (6.2in) in Wales.

In its warning, the Met Office said: ‘Rain, heavy and persistent at times, will move north-east across much of England and Wales during Thursday night and Friday morning, with some drier spells following across southern and eastern England for a time.

‘It will also become windy with gusts of 45 to 50mph inland and as high as 60mph on some southern coasts. The rain will clear from the north-west through Friday afternoon and evening.’

This weekend, daytime highs of 15C (59F) are expected in southern parts and areas as far south as the Peak District might struggle to reach 8C (46F).

Just 3C (37F) is expected in some Pennine areas of Northumberland and Cumbria during the daytime.

Ground frosts are expected in northern and western areas tomorrow night but the first ‘widespread frost’ of the season is set to occur on Saturday into Sunday.

Whilst it will be much cooler than recently, mostly dry conditions with spells of bright sunshine are expected.

Mr Claydon said: ‘We are expecting temperatures to drop by around 10C compared with what we have experienced lately.

‘Much of England and Wales will see rain through Friday. In the afternoon, that rain clears to the South East and, by the evening, the whole of the UK will be into that fresher air mass.

‘Friday night is due to be too breezy for a frost in many areas but, by the time we get to Saturday night into Sunday, we could see more widespread frosts across the UK.

‘In Scotland it could fall as low as -4C (25F) but in England and Wales it will drop to around 0C (32F).’

Mr Claydon said the area of high pressure bringing the fine but chilly weekend is likely to hang around until the middle of next week – after which a weather system could move in, bringing rain.

Yesterday’s UK high was 20.7C (69.3F) at Frittenden in Kent, while Katesbridge in County Down, Northern Ireland, fell to -2.4C (27.7F).