Heavy rain could cause travel delays, Met Office warns

A fresh amber weather warning has been issued along the south coast of England with flooding and disruption predicted on Wednesday morning.

The amber warning, which came into effect just after 6am and runs until 8am, follows a yellow warning for rain across the south of England and Wales from 6pm on Tuesday until 10am on Wednesday, as well as one for fog further north.

The Isle of Wight is at the centre of the amber warning with 30 to 40mm of rain likely and 70 to 80mm possible in some places.

Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said the wet weather meant there was “potential for travel delays and poor driving conditions” on Wednesday morning.

He added: “There could be a lot of spray on the roads and some difficult driving conditions as we start Wednesday morning. There could be some delays to public transport as well.”

The forecaster said the weather was more “typical” for October than that of Storm Babet, adding that the storm was “thankfully long gone”.

Mr Snell said: “It could be a bit of a tricky rush hour, first thing, but the rain will move out of the way and it will certainly be nowhere near on the scale of what we’ve seen further north.”

The forecaster said that much of the south coast of England and south Wales was likely to receive 15-25mm of rain.

He added that some areas along the Bristol Channel and English Channel could receive 50-60mm of rainfall, but this “would be very localised”.

On Tuesday evening, the Met Office extended its yellow weather warning area west and north west across parts of south Wales and south-west England.

It also moved it south in the South East, removing most of East Anglia from the warning area.

In its warning, the weather service predicts that bus and train services will probably be affected “with journey times taking longer”.

It also states that the flooding of a few homes and businesses is “likely”.

The yellow fog warning was issued just before 3am on Wednesday and runs until 11am with the Met Office predicting the fog would be “dense in places” and lead to disruption.

The warning covers the east of England, from East Anglia to north of Hull, and stretches across the Midlands to take in north-east Wales and north-east England around Manchester.

At least seven people are now thought to have died in incidents related to Storm Babet, while hundreds were forced to flee their homes in Scotland and north-east England.

About 1,250 properties in England flooded during the storm, according to the Environment Agency.

A total of 13 areas broke their daily rainfall records for October last week, including sites in Suffolk, South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Wiltshire, Kincardineshire, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Northumberland, Derbyshire and Humberside, the Met Office said.