The Met Office has issued a yellow storm warning for most of the UK on Monday and Tuesday with the potential for flash flooding, transport disruption and power cuts. The weather warning will remain in place for southern England on Wednesday, where communities could be cut off by flooded roads and the possibility of fast-flowing or deep flooding could cause “danger to life”. The warning follows weeks of little rainfall which, combined with extreme heat exacerbated by the climate disaster, has caused drought in parts of the UK. The National Drought Team on Friday moved parts of the south west, parts of southern and central England and eastern England into an official drought condition. Welsh Water, Southern Water and South East Water have already imposed tube restrictions, Yorkshire Water’s ban will start on August 26, while South West Water will introduce a ban for Cornwall and parts of Devon on August 23 and Thames Water said it is planning one in the coming weeks. Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said thunderstorms and heavy rain were likely to hit more localized areas in Scotland, as well as parts of south-west and east England, with up to 50mm of rain possible within three hours in some places. . He added: “That being said, it is very difficult to pinpoint exactly where these storms will occur. Some areas will miss the rains entirely, but where they do fall, there could be some impacts such as surface water flooding, with the rain apparently hitting dry land, travel disruption and power outages affecting homes and businesses.” Grahame Madge, another Met Office spokesman, told the Daily Telegraph: “If people know that properties may be flooded before it’s time to be ready – do a clean-up, put valuables up. It could be so simple and so fundamental that if you need to move quickly, you’re already halfway prepared.” South West Water announced its ban on Monday, the first in 26 years. The Devon and Cornwall region has had little rainfall over the past eight months and July was the driest for nearly a century. Politicians and campaigners have said water company bosses should be stripped of their multi-million pound bonuses until they fix leaks and build reservoirs. 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. Professor Hannah Cloke, a hydrology expert at the University of Reading, said heavy rain would not ease drought conditions. “It’s a drop in the ocean really,” Klock said. “It’s not soaking in the dirt that we really need. We need it back in the system where it can be stored. We really need a long rainy winter to make up for it.” Robert Caudwell, president of the Association of Sewerage Authorities (Ada), said the industry was concerned about surface water flooding but could not do much to prevent it. He said: “The problem is that with storms at this time of year it’s very difficult to predict exactly where they are and our members are keeping as much water in their systems as possible to try and prevent things from drying out. environment and farmers who want to irrigate. “So the last thing we want to do is what you would normally do if heavy rain was forecast, which is to create a bit more headwaters allowing more water to be removed from the system, which is very difficult when you’re really uncertain [which] areas will have a storm.”
