Flooding possible over weekend with heavy rain and strong winds forecast

Heavy rain and strong winds could bring flooding and travel disruption to parts of the UK this weekend after the severe effects of Storm Eowyn.

Up to 80mm of rainfall could be seen in parts of England and Wales with several amber and yellow weather warnings issued by the Met Office over Saturday and Sunday.

It comes after winds reached 100mph on Friday as the storm left one person dead, more than a million people without power and caused significant travel disruption across the UK and Ireland.

On Sunday, a yellow wind warning covering south-west England, English and Scottish coasts around the Irish Sea, Wales and Northern Ireland will be in place from 8am to 3pm, with 50 to 60mph gusts expected widely in the warning area.

A yellow rain warning covering southern and central England and Wales will also be in place from 8am on Sunday to 6am on Monday.

Some places could see up to 80mm of rainfall over the period from two separate spells of heavy rain and thundery showers, while 10 to 20mm should fall quite widely and 30 to 50mm could fall over high ground.

Flooding to homes and businesses could occur in the warning area, with power cuts and difficult driving conditions also possible.

There is also a “small chance” of fast flowing or deep floodwater causing danger to life, the Met Office said.

Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey said: “Looking at Sunday, it’s set to be a fairly fine start for a lot of areas – another ridge of high pressure building in to keep things fairly settled, with some sunny spells in there.

“The cloud, though, is going to be building as we see a low pressure system move into the South West. This will be bringing heavy rain in for south-west England and Wales from sort of mid-morning onwards, and then that will spread into Northern Ireland and northern England as we head later on into the afternoon.

“Winds will also be picking up with this feature. Certainly, it’s not going to be as strong as Storm Eowyn. However, because it’s coming in from the South West, it’s going to be actually more southern areas of England that are going to see the strongest wind gusts compared to what has mostly been further towards the north.”

An amber wind warning covering northern Scotland expired at 6am on Saturday, while a yellow wind warning covering the majority of Scotland will be in place until 3pm.

Those in the warning areas have been advised to secure loose items such as bins, garden furniture and trampolines outside their homes.

Yellow snow and ice warnings are in place in Northern Ireland until 10am on Saturday and in Scotland until 11am, with injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces possible.

Up to 10cm of snow could develop on high ground in Scotland throughout the morning.

A yellow ice warning covering parts of south-west England, the Midlands and southern and mid-Wales will be in place from 3am to 10am.

“From daytime tomorrow onwards, the start of Saturday is quite a nice one for more central and southern areas of the UK,” Mr Vautrey said.

“There’s going to be a lot of sunshine around, relatively calm winds as a transient ridge of high pressure builds its way in, and so for a lot of people away from those still ongoing winds across northern Scotland, Saturday will generally be quite a reasonable day.”

ScotRail said all services across Scotland would remain suspended until midday on Saturday at the earliest.

A gust of 100mph was recorded at Drumalbin in South Lanarkshire in Scotland on Friday, the Met Office said, while a record-breaking wind speed of 183kmh (114mph) was measured in Mace Head, Co Galway in Ireland, Met Eireann said.

NIE Networks said around 214,000 homes and businesses remained without power in Northern Ireland and the Scottish Government said 106,000 properties were without power in Scotland late on Friday evening.

More than 1,100 flights were cancelled on Friday, with Dublin, Edinburgh, Heathrow and Glasgow airports the worst affected.