Flash floods as month's worth of rain could fall in UK

Parts of Britain have been struck by flash floods amid concerns that some areas could see a month's worth of rain in 24 hours.

Heavy rainfall submerged parts of London, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, causing widespread travel disruption and damage to properties.

As of 11.45am, 17 flood warnings - meaning flooding is expected - were issued for England by the UK's Environment Agency.

Bedfordshire Police said it had closed off part of Dunstable High Street due to "substantial flooding", with footage shared on social media showing cars battling high water.

Some main roads and schools in Bedfordshire have also closed.

Services on a number of train and underground lines in London have been partly suspended.

London Fire Brigade said its emergency control officers have taken around 350 calls to flooding across the capital.

Firefighters attended incidents in areas such as Ruislip, Uxbridge, Wimbledon and Carshalton.

The service said these included rescuing people trapped in cars, assisting people from their homes and responding to flooding in underground stations, roadways, residences and commercial properties.

There appears to be a sinkhole in the pitch at AFC Wimbledon's stadium in south west London and the club's English League Cup match against Newcastle United tomorrow night has been called off due to "extensive overnight flooding".

Rain warnings were in place all weekend with a fresh yellow alert coming into effect at midnight to last for all of today, covering parts of Wales, much of the south of England, the midlands, north-west England and Yorkshire.

An amber warning came into force at 5am and will last until midnight.

It initially covered Worcester, Birmingham, Nottingham and Hull but an update from the UK's Met Office said the alert area had shifted further south and southwest to Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Buckinghamshire.

Some affected areas will see 60-80mm of rain today - while a few places could see in excess of 120mm, the forecaster said.

It also said there may be more warnings in the week ahead.

Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey previously said that Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and up towards the Wash and the Humber could see more than a month’s worth of rain today.

Environment Agency flood duty manager Sarah Cook said "persistent heavy rain and thunderstorms" could lead to some property flooding and travel disruption.

"Persistent heavy rain and thunderstorms could lead to significant surface water flooding on Monday across parts of England.

"The impacts could include localised flooding in urban areas and fast-responding catchments, including some property flooding as well as travel disruption. The risk from river flooding remains low," Ms Cook said.

"Environment Agency teams are out on the ground and ready to support local authorities in responding to surface water flooding.

"We urge people to plan their journeys carefully, follow the advice of local emergency services on the roads and not to drive through flood water - it is often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car."

A man from Northamptonshire described the moment he saw a "wave of water" heading towards him during flooding overnight.

Tim Maher and his partner Carol Findon, from Grendon, saw their two-storey home partially submerged

He said: "We've had an awful lot of rain in recent days and some forecasters were warning we could see a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours.

"I have an app on my phone which tracks river levels and at around 8.45pm it rocketed up.

"I decided to drive down to the bridge and saw the water breaking the banks and coming down the road towards me.

"I quickly turned around, drove home and put up a flood barrier we’ve got up against the door. It kept out a lot of the water but we’ve had about an inch overnight.

"We’ve had some damage to the carpets, settees and other furniture. The most difficult bit will be drying out the structure.

"We haven’t had much sleep and at least eight houses on our road have been impacted. It would be nice to get a permanent solution to this problem."