Jubilee parade facing washout as Met Office issues 'torrential downpour' warning

dailystar.co.uk:

Met Office has repeated its warning that severe thunderstorms could cause major disruption across southern England later today.Heavy showers and thunderstorms are expected to break out this afternoon and evening, perhaps merging to give longer spells of rain in places, more especially later this afternoon and this evening.

The storms carry with them a chance that homes and businesses could be flooded, with damage to some buildings from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds.

Torrential downpours are expected at times with up to an inch of rain falling in an hour in some spots and as much as an inch and a half building up over 2 or 3 hours in a few places.The showers will then fade during the course of this evening, but only slowly in some areas, especially over south Wales, the West Country and south Midlands.Where flooding or lightning strikes occur, there is a chance of delays and some cancellations to train and bus servicesMet Office Chief Meteorologist Andy Page said: “Many places within the warning area are unlikely to see a thunderstorm at all, but those places that do see one could well see impacts from heavy rain and frequent lightning strikes.”“A few places could see up to 20 – 30mm of rain within an hour, with a small chance of 50 mm in 2 to 3 hours, most likely near the south coast".He added: “The risk of thunderstorms eases as we go through Saturday morning.

However, as this band of warm air continues to push further north across the UK there is a risk of more thunderstorms and heavy downpours on Sunday. "We will be monitoring this risk and may need to issue another warning when the potential for impacts becomes clearer.