A prolonged period of rain is set to wreak havoc over Britain for four consecutive days, the Met Office predicts.
The forecaster has placed various regions in Scotland, the south west and south east under two yellow weather warnings for rain – with some areas already counting the cost of Storm Babet damage.
It has admitted that recovery efforts from last week’s storm may be hampered as a result of the latest rain deluge, which could actually continue for another 10 days, at least.
Met Office Chief Meteorologist Frank Saunders, said: “As we head through the rest of the week low pressure systems in the Atlantic will feed weather fronts across the UK, bringing rain and showers for many.
“High pressure close to Scandinavia acts to block the progress of weather fronts, causing them to stall at times, bringing prolonged, heavy rainfall for some, particularly to the West and south.
“There will also be more rainfall feeding in from the east coast into eastern Scotland and northeast England, areas so badly impacted by Storm Babet.
“This rainfall won’t be as heavy as last week’s but has the potential to cause some further impacts, or perhaps to delay recovery and repair work.”
The first yellow warning comes into force from midday today and will expire at midnight on Sunday – covering Storm Babet’s hotspots.
People can expect road spray, flooding, and routes being shut off at the last minute. Delays to public transport may also be caused by the onslaught of rain.
Some homes may suffer power cuts, while people living in already saturated areas will need to stay vigilant.
The warning says: “Further rain is expected across eastern Scotland between late Thursday and early Sunday, the rain heavy at in places, although possibly easing off for a time later Friday or early Saturday.
“Accumulations over this period will be widely around 30 to 40 mm near the coast, with 50 to 100 mm likely to fall over higher ground where there is a possibility of up to around 100-150 mm in a few locations.
“Rain will be less heavy than last week but falling on to already saturated ground is likely may lead to further flooding in places.”
The latest warnings cover parts of Scotland and a section of the southeast coast, with dozens of areas overall left at risk of additional flooding into the weekend.
Affected areas in Scotland include:
Central, Tayside & Fife
– Angus
– Dundee
– Perth and Kinross
Grampian
– Aberdeen
– Aberdeenshire
And affected areas in England include the following:
East of England
– Essex
– Southend-on-Sea
– Thurrock
London & South East England
– Bracknell Forest
– Brighton and Hove
– East Sussex
– Greater London
– Hampshire
– Isle of Wight
– Kent
– Medway
– Portsmouth
– Southampton
– Surrey
– West Sussex
– Windsor and Maidenhead
South West England
– Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole
– Dorset
– Wiltshire
