Get ready for a weekend washout: Met Office extends heavy rain …
Parts of Britain are braced for a weekend washout with four inches of rain, 55mph gusts and 'unusually' high tides on the way amid concerns over further flooding.
Rail services in some areas have been suspended for the whole weekend after the Met Office[3] extended its rain warnings just days after the chaos of Storm Babet.
South East England, North East Scotland and Northern Ireland[4] are now on flood watch yet again as forecasters warned motorists to expect more difficult conditions.
LNER said no trains will run between Edinburgh[5] to Aberdeen from now until Monday with a 'limited coach rail replacement service' running but only if the weather allows, while trains to and from Inverness will be severely delayed due to a speed restriction.
ScotRail has suspended services from Aberdeen and Inverness to Glasgow[6] and Edinburgh, while passengers using LNER, TransPennine Express and Lumo were warned of speed restrictions delaying trains between Newcastle and Edinburgh.
At the opposite end of the UK, there will be no trains on the Isle of Wight until at least next Wednesday after flooding left the main tunnel in Ryde under 30ft of water.
Vehicles abandoned next to the A816 Oban to Lochgilphead road in Argyll and Bute today
Vehicles caught in the landslip on the A816 near Ardfern are still stuck today after three weeks
A foggy and chilly day in Windsor this morning as people make their way along the Long Walk
Cyclists brave the wet and chilly weather at Richmond Park in South West London today
A foggy morning in the Oxfordshire countryside at Dunsden today as people go for a walk
Meanwhile there was major disruption in East London[7] this afternoon on Greater Anglia, Stansted Express and London Overground[8] services after lines were closed when a tree fell and damaged overhead electric wires in the Hackney Downs area.
The Environment Agency has 16 flood warnings and 74 alerts in place today, while the latest Scottish Flood Forecast warns of further 'significant flooding impacts'.
The Met Office has four yellow rain warnings in place from today as follows:
- East coast of Northern Ireland from 12pm today until 6pm tomorrow;
- North East of Scotland from 12pm yesterday until 6pm tomorrow;
- South East of England from midnight tonight until midnight Sunday night;
- Eastern Scotland from 6am Sunday until midnight Monday night;
There was also a fog warning for much of eastern England until 10.30am today amid concerns over 'very poor visibility' for motorists. Police in Northern Ireland attended a road crash in Coalisland, County Tyrone, where 'thick fog' had been reported.
Over the coming days, the heaviest rain is set to fall over eastern Scotland between today and tomorrow evening with up to 4in (100m) expected over higher ground.
Rain warnings are in place for Northern Ireland, North East Scotland and South East England
Elsewhere, the warning for the South East comes with an alert for thundery weather with up to 2.8in (70mm) of rain set to fall close to the English Channel coasts.
How will rail services be impacted by the weather this weekend?
LNER
There will be no LNER services running from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, or from Aberdeen to Edinburgh, until next Monday.
Services on the Inverness route will face 'significant delays' due to a speed restriction imposed by Network Rail.
There will be a 'limited rail replacement coach service' in place between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, but these are subject to weather conditions on the roads and will be monitored.
There is no ticket acceptance in place with any other rail operator.
LNER also said services between Edinburgh and Newcastle will face delays due to speed restrictions.
ScotRail
Passengers going between the Central Belt and Aberdeen and Inverness must change at Perth to get to Inverness, and at Dundee to get to Aberdeen.
There will be no direct ScotRail services from today until Sunday.
The following routes are suspended:
- Aberdeen - Glasgow Queen Street
- Aberdeen - Edinburgh
- Inverness - Glasgow Queen Street
- Inverness - Edinburgh
Glasgow Queen Street to Dundee, and Edinburgh to Perth services are due to be running as scheduled.
A shuttle train will run between Perth and Inverness, calling at all stations.
A shuttle will also run between Dundee and Aberdeen, calling at all stations.
Montrose to Aberdeen / Dyce / Inverurie services will operate between Aberdeen and Inverurie only in both directions. Rail replacement buses will be in operation.
AdvertisementIn addition, overnight tomorrow into early Sunday morning, strong winds gusting at up to 55mph expected along exposed parts of the south coast.
The Met Office said: 'Strong winds and coastal gales may affect south Wales, the Bristol Channel and in particular English Channel coasts on Saturday night and into Sunday morning
'With large waves and unusually high tides expected this weekend, some coastal flooding is possible in places.'
It comes after North East Scotland was deluged by torrential rain a week ago during Storm Babet, which caused the evacuation of Brechin in Angus amid major flooding.
Flooding also hit parts of the East Midlands including Chesterfield in Derbyshire and Retford in Nottinghamshire, where residents were also told to leave their homes.
And this week the Isle of Wight became the latest area to battle flooding[9], which saw motorists rescued from cars in 3ft of water and residents claiming the island 'appeared to have sunk'.
Now, with further rain on the way this weekend, some rail services have been suspended due to the weather warnings.
ScotRail has advised there will be no direct services running between the central belt and Aberdeen and Inverness from this morning until Sunday.
The warning for Scotland that is currently in place covers Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee, and Perth and Kinross - most of which saw prolonged downpours cause major problems for residents last week.
ScotRail services from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Aberdeen and Inverness have been suspended, although they will run to Dundee from Glasgow, and to Perth from Edinburgh.
A shuttle train service will operate between Inverness and Perth and Aberdeen and Dundee, but it will be subject to delay due to speed restrictions imposed as a precaution.
This is because heavy rain is forecast in areas which already have high water levels and saturated ground after Storm Babet.
Journeys are expected to take longer than usual and customers are advised to check before travelling.
LNER has advised services between Edinburgh and Newcastle will be subject to delays due to speed restrictions.
TransPennine Express will be running a limited service between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh only, with a heavily reduced service running between Edinburgh and Newcastle.
Most trains will be revised to start or terminate at Newcastle and are not calling at stations towards Edinburgh.
CrossCountry southbound services will run on a reduced service.
A warning is place for the east coast of Northern Ireland from 12pm today until 6pm tomorrow
The North East of Scotland is under a rain warning from 12pm yesterday until 6pm tomorrow
South East England has a rain warning from midnight tonight until midnight Sunday night
Meanwhile, repairs at Morpeth are also disrupting services between Scotland and England.
David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said: 'The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for heavy rain across the Highlands and north east of Scotland until Sunday.
'Our first priority is always to ensure the safety of our staff and customers.
'As a precautionary measure, speed restrictions will be in place across the Highlands and north east, which will result in extended journey times and the removal of some direct services.
'We ask customers to keep an eye on our website, app, or social media feeds for live updates.'
The latest flood forecast issued by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency said significant flooding impacts from rivers and surface water are likely in the North East of the country today and tomorrow.
There is also a risk of further impacts in areas recovering from recent flooding.
It said: 'River levels are not expected to be as high as experienced during Storm Babet but as the rain will be falling on to already wet ground, flooding from surface water run-off may also cause impacts.
'Caithness and Sutherland, Easter Ross and Great Glen and the south west of Scotland may also experience some localised flooding due to persistent and heavy rain.'
Network Rail Scotland warned: 'More extremely heavy rain is on the way. It won't be to the levels from Storm Babet, but it will affect the same areas already with saturated ground. It will bring a risk of flooding.'
Meanwhile Labour's shadow environment secretary Steve Reed has criticised 'laughable and pathetic' comments made by Therese Coffey suggesting the damage done by Storm Babet was harder to predict because rain came in from the east.
An avalanche of mud and rocks pushed vehicles off the road near Ardfern in Argyll and Bute
Works continue today to repair the road in near Ardfern in Argyll and Bute after the landslip
Vehicles caught in the landslip on the A816 near Ardfern are still stuck today after three weeks
Works continue today to repair the road in near Ardfern in Argyll and Bute after the landslip
Mist across the River Thames at Windsor in Berkshire today while a fog warning is in place
The Round Tower at Windsor Castle is not visible from Windsor Bridge in the fog this morning
Drivers make their way along foggy roads in Windsor this morning amid a misty start to the day
A foggy and chilly day in Windsor this morning as people make their way along the Long Walk
The Environment Secretary had said this to MPs at the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee earlier this week.
Mr Reed told LBC: 'I watched it and it was both laughable and pathetic that a senior member of the Government could sit in front of a select committee and just mouth weak excuses like that.
'The problem if you talk to people on the ground and they'll tell you is a lack of co-ordination, so in Retford, people that were made homeless were told to go to the local leisure centre and it was closed - a lack of co-ordination.
'People were telling me up in the same place that floods happened in 2007, there has been funding allocated since then to put in place diversionary schemes, but it hasn't been spent - a lack of co-ordination.
'So getting that co-ordination working through a flood resilience task force strikes me as a very sensible approach to making sure that in every area of the country where there is vulnerability to heavy rainfall and flooding, that support is available and we do seem to get extreme weather situations much more frequently now, so it's urgent that this is put in place would be my opinion.'
References
- ^ Mark Duell (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Jon Brady (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Met Office (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Northern Ireland (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Edinburgh (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Glasgow (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ London (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ London Overground (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Isle of Wight became the latest area to battle flooding (www.dailymail.co.uk)