The flood warning follows days of extreme heat warnings and an official drought declaration following the longest nine-month drought since 1976. Forecasters warned that downpours are the wrong kind of rain to deal with drought and are more likely to lead to flooding than water flowing from parched land. The heatwave is forecast to break with a yellow warning for thunderstorms covering almost the whole of the UK on Monday, all of England and Wales on Tuesday and most of southern and eastern England on Wednesday. The Met Office warned of “torrential rainfall and possible disruption” in some places, adding that homes and businesses could be “quickly inundated” and buildings damaged by floodwaters. He also said power outages are possible. By Sunday afternoon, the Environment Agency had issued eight flood warnings, including six in south-west England. He also warned that properties could be flooded and travel could be disrupted by surface water. John Curtin, the agency’s chief operating officer, tweeted that the UK was in “that twilight zone where there are flood and drought warnings”. He said: “Heavy rainfall over dry and hard ground will lead to rapid run-off and increased risk of flooding this week. But – this will in no way remedy weeks of dry weather, so most of England will remain in drought.” Professor Hannah Cloke, a hydrology expert at the University of Reading, said the rain forecast was “unlikely to be long-lasting or widespread enough to make a big difference to some extremely low levels in reservoirs and rivers”. Dan Stroud, a forecaster at the Met Office, said: “We are coming to the end of an extended, very warm period and the ground has been baked so it is extremely dry. The weather breaks down into a mix of strong and stormy. And rain from really heavy downpours won’t be able to soak into baked soil quickly. It’s very difficult for water to actually get in because it has to force the air out of the soil. So the dry land is flooded very quickly and then we have surface runoff.” Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. He added: “What we really need is a sustained period of light rain or drizzle just to gently wet the soil again. Heavy rains are not extremely helpful. It will take a lot of rain over a long period of time to really fill the aquifers and reservoirs.” Stroud said “pretty much anywhere” was at risk from the rain early this week, but it was hard to pinpoint exactly where. “Scotland and Northern Ireland were more at risk on Sunday. As we move into Monday, the risk develops initially across Wales and the south-west, then more widely across England during the afternoon and into the evening.” Last week the University of Reading released video of a simple experiment involving three cups of water to show how resistant dry soil is to absorbing water, making flooding more likely. Rob Thompson, who ran the demonstration, said: “Dry, dry soil doesn’t let water in as effectively as already wet soil… Because the soil resists water entering, the water sits on the surface, to run off. down slopes or just sit in a pool.’ An official drought was declared on Friday in eight areas of England by the National Drought Team. Three water companies – Welsh Water, Southern Water and South East Water – have imposed tube bans, while Yorkshire Water has announced a ban will start on August 26 and Thames Water is planning one in the coming weeks. Lincolnshire Police confirmed that a teenage boy died on Saturday after going into the sea in Skegness after temperatures exceeded 30C in some parts of England. A body was also found in a Doncaster lake on Saturday after reports that a man in his 20s had difficulty in the water.
