Commuters face road closures and disrupted rail services following flooding

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Commuters are facing road closures and disrupted rail services on Tuesday as dozens of flood warnings remain in place.

It comes after parts of Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire saw more than 100mm of rain in the last 48 hours with Woburn in Bedfordshire seeing 132mm recorded, more than twice the amount of its September average rainfall amount according to the Met Office.

The Environment Agency had 32 flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, and 94 flood alerts, meaning it is possible, in place across England on Tuesday morning, but a respite from more heavy rain is expected.

National Highways said it expected the A421 in Bedfordshire to remain closed on Tuesday in both directions between the A6 Bedford and M1 J13 near Marston Moretaine because of severe flooding, and that it “cannot provide a timeline for the road to reopen”.

And the northbound A5 between the A421 in Bletchley and Great Holm at Milton Keynes was closed by rising water levels on Tuesday morning after one lane had been opened overnight.

Train services are also affected, as flooding between Rugby and Milton Keynes central is disrupting Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway until 10am, according to National Rail.

London Northwestern Railway said its Marston Vale line, which operates services between Bedford and Bletchley, would be suspended until September 30.

And Chiltern Railways said trains between Banbury and Bicester North were running at reduced speed on all lines.

The National Grid said it had seen a week’s worth of power cuts across the weekend.

Drier but noticeably cooler conditions are forecast widely on Tuesday with Scotland and northern England still seeing some isolated heavy showers with a chance of thunder, according to the Met Office which said further weather warnings are “unlikely”.

Maximum temperatures are expected to rise no higher than the mid-teens.

Meteorologist Liam Eslick said: “There may be odd, heavier bursts just clipping the South East as a system does slowly start to move away, but it’s a much drier day for most people.

“There are going to be some isolated showers here and there, but they’re going to be very light, nothing like the torrential rain that we’ve seen over the last couple of days.”

River levels should start to decrease to more manageable levels elsewhere towards the end of the day as more water seeps into the ground.

The shift to drier conditions in southern areas will also signal a slight dip in temperatures.

“As the system that we have had moves its way off towards the east, we start to get a bit more of a northerly flow so we’re bringing in that cooler northerly winds,” the forecaster said.

“The winds aren’t going to be strong at all, but with the direction that it is coming in, there will be a bit more of a fresher feel.”

A gradual lowering of temperatures will continue through Wednesday and Thursday but it is unlikely any frost will develop, with plenty of cloud around.