Storm Debi – live: London weather warning extended as Met Office warns of lightning damage to buildings

A yellow weather warning for thunderstorms, heavy rain and severe gale-force wings has been extended across London and southern England, as Storm Debi continues to batter parts of the UK.

The Met Office has warned of potential damage to buildings from lightning strikes or strong winds, as well as a chance of power cuts, and possible travel disruption and delays.

In its update on Tuesday, the forecaster said the warning area has been adjusted to focus on southern and southeast England, with the end time delayed until mid-afternoon. The warning has been in place since 5am and was supposed to run until midday but has now been extended to 3pm.

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The Environment Agency had 14 flood warnings in place on Tuesday afternoon, meaning flooding is expected, with 101 lesser flood alerts also active.

Areas of concern include the River Ouse in York and the River Vyrnwy near the border between Wales and Shropshire.

Heavy rain with possible hail, thunder and gusty winds has been forecast in southern England early this afternoon.

The Met Office said there will be more general rain for Scotland.

However, the forecaster said that the weather is set to turn brighter in Northern Ireland, England and Wales later on, with sunshine and showers expected.

It added that the weather will still be breezy but much less windy than yesterday.

Met Office meteorologist Marco Petagna said Storm Debi is expected to clear away from the UK to the east in the early hours of Tuesday, but “wet and windy weather” should linger.

He said that “heavy and potentially thundery showers” will move eastwards across the south of England.

“We could see 15-20mm, almost an inch, of rain across some southern counties of England combined with fairly gusty winds as well,” he said.

“A week’s worth of rain could fall in an hour or two in that warning area and you could see wind speeds of 40-50mph.

“If you are in that warning area, it is going to be quite tricky (to travel).

“Allow extra time to travel and keep tuned to the forecast overnight.

“If you are out and about, take extra care and be prepared to see thundery showers.”

Recovery operations are underway after Storm Debi swept across Ireland, forcing some schools to close and disrupting public transport services.

A woman was taken to hospital after being hit by flying debris in Limerick, as the storm also brought coastal flooding and widespread power outages across Ireland.

The majority of the country was placed under red and orange wind warnings on Monday as Irish forecaster Met Eireann warned of “severe and damaging gusts”, with the last of the warnings lifting by 3pm.

With all weather warnings now expired, the focus turned to clearing roads of debris, reconnecting the 70,000 homes and businesses left without power and helping those hit by flooding.

An Irish Government scheme to support people living in homes affected by severe weather has been extended following flooding in Galway city and nearby Oranmore.

One Galway businessman said that “unthinkable” flooding damage done to his business could cost between 500,000 and 700,000 euro to fix.

“The people are devastated. There is no flood defence, this could happen in two weeks’ time if we get another bad storm, until something is done about it,” he said.

Southern England has been battered with stormy weather on Tuesday as flooding causes travel disruption.

A thunderstorm warning has come into effect for southern England as downpours continue across parts of the UK.

The yellow weather warning for thunderstorms began at 5am and runs until midday on Tuesday.

Overrunning overnight engineering works delayed commuters between Bracknell and Wokingham in Berkshire, with slippery rails also causing delays between Nottingham and Mansfield.

Further north, heavy flooding has caused the railway station at Carnforth, Lancaster, to close until midday, while ScotRail implemented blanket speed reductions across its services on Tuesday morning.

There were also reports of trees being downed, including one in Tower Hamlets, London.

On Tuesday morning, the Environment Agency had nine flood warnings in place, meaning flooding is expected, with 107 lesser flood alerts also active.

Areas of concern include the River Severn in Gloucester and the River Eden in Cumbria.

Storm Debi marks the earliest point in a storm season the letter D has been reached in the alphabet.

Before 2023, the earliest month in which the letter D was reached was December, which happened in 2015 (Desmond), 2017 (Dylan) and 2018 (Deirdre).

The named storms in this year’s season so far are Agnes (September), Babet (October), Ciaran (November) and Debi.

The warnings come as Storm Debi caused 70mph gusts on Monday, leading to flight cancellations.

British Airways said that, like other airlines, it had to “make a small number of cancellations” due to the bad weather which has reduced the number of flights air traffic controllers will allow to land per hour.

A spokesperson said: “We’ve apologised to our customers for the disruption to their travel plans and our teams are working hard to get them on their way as quickly as possible.”

A “very active” jet stream has been the cause of much of the wet weather, a Met Office meteorologist has said, as he warned it shows “no sign” of stopping in the next week.

Marco Petagna said: “The active jet stream is helping to move a deep area of low pressure. It is quite a long way south and much of the UK is in the firing line.

“The next week or so will still be pretty unsettled, with some brighter spells but not for long.”

Despite the wet weather, fairly normal temperatures for this time of year of 9-12C are expected.