UK weather – live: London's Victoria station floods amid 'danger to life' storm warning

Police have recovered the body of a teenage girl who is thought to have drowned in Greater Manchester on Monday.

Greater Manchester Police said the girl got into difficulty in water off Crowswood Drive, Stalybridge, after emergency responders were called on Monday at around 6.30pm.

The force has not named the girl but said formal identification has taken place, while officers are “confident” her death is not suspicious.

Officers said an investigation suggested she had drowned.

An amateur photographer captured an extraordinary shot of lightning over north Wales on his smartphone.

Thomas Davies stepped into his back garden in Rhyl just before midnight on Sunday to test out the camera on his phone.

Thomas explains: “I caught this in the back garden of my house at 23.55 on Sunday. I went for a nosey out side hearing the rain pouring down then to see a lightning strike in the distance. So I got my mobile and my tripod to took it outside under a bit of shelter away from the rain.

“I wanted to practice some long exposure shots and see if the Samsung s22 ultra can capture any lightning. Within a few minutes setting it all up to the right camera settings I caught this lightning strike. I was happy to see it until I looked on my phone to see the image and I was amazed to capture it.”

All of England and Wales are under a thunderstorm yellow warning until midnight tonight.

Videos have emerged showing the scale of the flash flooding that hit several parts of the UK on Monday, the result of heavy downpours after many weeks of exceptionally dry conditions (Maroosha Muzaffar writes).

Experts say the record-breaking heatwaves over the last few weeks have left the ground extremely hard and dry and hence more susceptible to flooding.

Local reports said that heavy rainfall and flash flooding hit some parts of Devon and Cornwall as thunderstorms swept across the southwest and East of England.

One of the videos shared on social media shows a roundabout near a river in Truro, Cornwall quickly flooding as showers swept in.

The UK is still “reactive and not proactive” about flood risk even though flooding has become a “regular pattern” for the country, the National Flood Forum charity has warned.

Speaking to Nick Ferarri on LBC, Heather Shepherd said: “Flooding has definitely increased and certainly the length of time that I’ve been working in flood risk, and we see it now as a regular pattern, don’t we, every year.”

However, she added: “I still think we are quite reactive and not proactive. As soon as it’s not in the headlines, flooding, we tend to be a bit too laid back.”

Ms Shepherd expressed concern about the government’s “cost criteria” regarding the accessibility of funding for flooded communities, saying: “There are people, particularly in rural and deprived areas, that repeatedly are flooded and can’t access any funding to do anything about that.”

She also warned that “building like mad everywhere” was increasing flood risk, as “a lot of that is on places where water had space and it no longer has. It overwhelms our drainage infrastructure. And we’re seeing more and more urban flooding”.

Thunderstorms can carry an increased risk of asthma attacks.

The phenomenon known as thunderstorm asthma was first formally recorded in 1983 and health officials say it is not fully understood.

Health authorities say everyone may be at risk but young adults can be particularly affected. Those diagnosed with asthma or hayfever are at greater risk.

The UKHSA last noted an uptick in people reporting ashtma symptoms during a thunderstorm last June.

Allergy expert Dr Sophie Farooque goes into detail about the condition in a Twitter thread:

People who live in “low-lying properties” should make sure their valuable items are “ready to go”, or “on a higher level of your house”, due to the current high flood risk, the Met Office has warned.

Speaking to Sky News, Met Office meteorologist Clare Nasir said: “For low-lying properties, which perhaps have been built on a floodplain, yes, there is a risk of flooding in properties.

“Get all your documents, whether it’s your mobile phone, your passport, etc, all those things you don’t want to be damaged by floodwater and make sure they’re ready to go or on a higher level of your house”.

She added that the downpours overnight and into this morning are “the wrong kind of rain which we need for the ground”, as the ground is too hard to absorb it.

“What we’re looking for is sort of continuous rain, moderate rain, rather than this incredibly intense burst, which currently is moving up across more southern areas of England. So we’re not out of the woods yet.”

Sadiq Khan has told Londoners to prepare for flash flooding in the event that heavy rain and thunderstorms hit the capital this week.

The capital’s mayor said: “I have written to tens of thousands of Londoners who live in homes that could be affected by flash flooding.

“My message to Londoners is to please contact Floodline, go to your local authority’s website to see what you can do to reduce the chances of you being flooded but also to minimise the consequences on you,” he said, recommending people also check they are insured and what those details are as well as preparing a grab bag.

Mr Khan said: “[We are] working closely with the water companies, the fire brigade, Transport for London, local councils and other partners making sure we are as ready as we can be, but the bad news is there could well be flash floods if there’s heavy rain during a short period of time.”

The mayor also called on the government to do more to tackle climate change as well as adapt the capital to deal with its consequences in light of the recent surge in fires and now the potential for flash floods.

A children’s play centre in Devon flooded on Monday night as heavy rain swept the county.

Staff at The Milky Way in Clovelly spent hours sweeping water from the premises after days of dry, hot weather were broken by hail then rain.

Part of the ceiling collapsed in the foul weather, though staff said on Twitter that the play centre was cleared up and would be open today.

Steff Gaulter, a meteorologist, shared footage from the incident online.

Professor Hannah Cloke, an expert in hydrology at the University of Reading, said the London Underground could flood if heavy rain hits the capital.

“The ground is really dry and when it is so dry it acts a little bit like concrete and that water can’t get in so it drains straight off.

“If you get a heavy rain in a city, the drainage system can copy up to a point but if there is really heavy rain it can overwhelm the system – the rain cannot run away quick enough.

“Water tends to find the lowest pathway – that is why it is so dangerous for cities with these surface area floods.

“That is why it is of concern to the Tube and underground car parks and things like that,” she said, adding that it is of concern in other UK cities as well.

“It is not like we haven’t seen this recently,” Prof Cloke said, referring to flooding affecting London Tube stations last year. “If we are in London and the parks are really really dry, there is no where for the water to run so it is exacerbating the risks we already have in cities.”

Britain is on high alert for flash flooding as the heatwave gives way to heavy thunderstorms and torrential rain on parched ground (Rory Sullivan writes).

The Met Office issued yellow weather warnings for thunderstorms and rain across most of Britain until late on Tuesday, with a small chance that fast-moving water could cause “risk to life”. These dangers will persist in southern England until Wednesday.

There was localised flooding in parts of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset on Monday – the same day as those areas were hit by a hosepipe ban because of the dry summer drought.

“There are likely to be more flash floods,” Tom Morgan, a forecaster at the Met Office, told The Independent on Monday.