Heavy rain and flooding shuts down rail services while submerged car pictured

Torrential rain swept across the country closing railway lines, flooding streets with drains bursting and led to one car being abandoned after it was submerged in water.

The dismal weather so far this summer continued with widespread flooding and the Met Office is now warning of heavy rain, thunderstorms, wind and hail through central and southern Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland over the rest of the weekend.

There is a glimmer of hope, though, with warmer weather, drier conditions forecast for later in the month.

Before that, on Sunday, there is a possibility of power cuts north of the border while Traffic Scotland has advised drivers in Glasgow and North Lanarkshire to use caution due to surface water.

Network Rail said staff detected 5ft of floodwater in the twin tunnels at Dalmuir north west of Glasgow on the route from Yoker.

Streets were flooded around the country as the rain lashed down on Saturday
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PA)

It has been a miserable summer for much of the UK with plenty of rain and little sunshine
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PA)

The line between Argyle Street and Bridgeton in Glasgow also closed due to track circuit failures from suspected flooding.

The rail body tweeted: “We’re constantly monitoring the weather and the impact it’s having on the network in real-time, thanks to our dedicated forecasters and monitoring equipment.

“Right now, there’s a number of speed restrictions in place across the country due to the heavy rain we’ve seen.”

On Glasgow’s Great Western Road, cars were seen driving through flood water while a couple was forced to abandon a car underneath Drumchapel railway bridge after it became submerged.

UK weather: Heavy rain causes floods as Met Office issues thunderstorm warnings

Claire, a local resident, said: “They walked through the water up to their waist. I went to get (a) train and all (were) cancelled so had to wade home in rain up to my calves.”

Videos and photos of heavy flooding on the roads and drains full of water were posted on social media by people in Walthamstow, east London, and Battersea in south London.

And two London Underground stations, Stepney Green and Holborn, closed due to the flooding as well as a platform at Liverpool Street Station.

The Met Office is predicting more rain for Sunday especially in the north with yellow warnings in place
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Met Office)

However, it is likely the weather will clear up for a chance at a drier summer towards the end of August.

Met Office meteorologist Becky Mitchell said: “It’s going to stay quite changeable at least for the next week but as we head towards the end of August, there’s a likelihood we’ll see hotter spell of weather and drier more settled weather across the whole of the UK.”

While it is too early to predict temperatures at this stage, it could “potentially be in the high 20s”.

Surprisingly Becky said that even though it may not seem like it, this summer has been “warmer and drier than average”.

She said: “It’s not been wetter on average but we’ve seen a lot of reports on the news about the flooding. That’s why it may feel like a bad summer, with not much warmth or sunshine.”

The wet weather is expected to continue over the coming days with a warning for drivers to take care in Scotland on Sunday
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SWNS)

The Met Office has though offered a glimmer of hope and said that warmer, drier weather is expected by the end of the month
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Alex Lentati/LNP)

She explained that the only exception has been the south east of England, which has been wetter than usual and has already had 111 percent of its average rainfall for the summer.

Becky added the cause of the torrential rain and thunderstorms is down to the fact that July was so hot.

She said: “We’ve had quite a lot of warm weather and there was a heatwave during the middle part of July. The end of that heatwave triggered a lot of thunderstorms and heavy and intense rain, which is what brought some of those flooding incidents across parts of the southeast.

Met Office issues warning for heavy rain and thunderstorms with risk of flooding across UK

“There has been a lot of rainfall in a short amount of time, creating localised flooding events rather than it being a wet period.”

The worst-hit places appear to be the City of London, which has had 143 percent of its average rainfall this summer, the Isle of Wight with 174 percent of its average summer rainfall, and Surrey with 126 percent.

Ms Mitchell believes the Isle of Wight will only get rainier and imagines the percentage will be “much higher by the end of summer”.

By comparison, Scotland has only has 38 percent of its average rainfall and she said “a few northern areas have been much, much drier”.

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