Journalist Ian Woods was out with Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service amid record numbers of bushfires Temperatures hit 34C on Sunday as the UK braces for three days of rain and yellow weather warnings. The Met Office said Charlwood, Surrey, recorded the highest temperature at 34.1C. The hot weather has led to many fires breaking out across England, with flames breaking out in London, Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Essex and Devon. It comes as searches are underway for a man on the River Thames in west London after he was reported to have had difficulties in the water. The Metropolitan Police said a “multi-agency response” was in operation after receiving reports of the man in the water at Hampton Court at 4.12pm. Water splashes onto green football pitches next to a parched pitch Credit: Ben Birchall/PA A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Officers from the Met and Surrey police, the Police National Aviation Service, as well as London Fire and Rescue Service, London Ambulance Service and the RNLI, began searching the river.” However, despite the best efforts of all involved, the man has not been found.” Efforts to notify all of his next of kin are ongoing while work to recover the man continues.” People walk past Queen’s House and the Old Naval College in London’s Greenwich Park as drought has been declared in parts of England. Credit: PA In Scotland and Northern Ireland, a yellow warning for thunderstorms came into effect from 9am. on Sunday as the north experiences heavy rain for the next two days. Severe weather began to affect stores as customers were turned away from a Tesco supermarket in Inverness after water fell from the roof. Videos on social media showed roof tiles falling to the floor and water pouring in, covering most of the floor at the supermarket on Sunday. From Monday, the storm warning extends to Wales and England. The Met Office has warned of flooding, thunder, lightning and power outages as rain falls across the country. The warning remains in place in Scotland and Northern Ireland until 11.59pm on Monday and 11.59pm for all of England and Wales on Tuesday. The south west and south east of England also face a third day of yellow warnings on Wednesday until 11.59pm as the rain eases elsewhere. Dan Stroud, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said the drastic change in weather was due to a change in atmospheric pressure. He said: “We’ve had quite a few days now where we’ve had clear, strong, clear skies and bright sunshine which has warmed the ground. “We used to have high pressure, now low pressure dominates, so the air becomes more unstable. “Because we’ve had some very warm ground temperatures, it really doesn’t take too much for the air to become even more unstable and thunderstorms to develop quickly.” Official drought was declared in eight areas of England on Friday by the National Drought Group (NDG), which is made up of representatives from the government, water companies, the Environment Agency (EA) and others. Three water companies – Welsh Water, Southern Water and South East Water – have all imposed pipe bans, while Yorkshire Water has announced a ban will start on August 26 and Thames Water is planning one in the coming weeks. Mr Stroud said despite heavy rain forecast over the next few days, it was unlikely to help the drought. “It will help a bit, but to be honest, it’s almost the wrong kind of rain,” he said. “What we’re likely to see is some heavy, heavy rainfall. With the soil baked so dry, it’s very difficult for the soil to really absorb water very quickly.” On Saturday, residents in Surrey were left without water after problems hit the Netley Mill Water Treatment Works. Water supplier Thames Water apologized and distributed bottled water to residents in Guilford, Surrey Hills, Dorking and Horsham while engineers worked to restore the supply. Surrey residents queue for water in Cranleigh on Saturday. Credit: Martin Bamford/Surrey Live By Sunday morning the problem had been fixed, with residents saying water was “gradually returning to the area”. Just before 7pm, he said the Netley Mill Water Treatment Works was operating as normal. A statement from Thames Water said: “Netley Mill Water Treatment Works is now back in operation and the supply is gradually being restored to the local network. This will continue for the rest of the day. “We are very sorry that customers have been affected especially during a period of high temperatures. “When supplies start coming back, we’re asking customers to try to use it for basic use only at first. This will help us get supplies back to everyone faster.”
