The Met Office have doubled down on their Yellow weather warning for South London this evening (August 16) extended it through tomorrow and the start of the new week.

The national weather authority said that the risk of thunderstorms and associated dangers like flash flooding remained in place through Sunday and Monday (August 17) amid persistently high temperatures.

"Thunderstorms are bringing heavy downpours across parts of East Anglia and southern counties of England.

"Stay Weather Aware," a Met Office spokesperson posted to Twitter earlier this afternoon.

"Further heavy showers and thunderstorms are expected at times and may lead to some flooding and travel disruption," a statement from the office via their website added.

The Met Office said that the following conditions should be anticipated by residents ahead of the possible thunderstorms and associated downpours:

  • Flooding of homes and businesses could happen quickly, with damage to some buildings from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds
  • Fast flowing or deep floodwater is possible.
  • Where flooding or lightning strikes occur, there is a chance of delays and some cancellations to train and bus services

Flash flooding hit Croydon earlier in the week, highlighting the imminent risk brought by thunderstorms as per the Met Office's warning, while 24.1 mm of rain falling in just an hour in Canterbury, Kent.

Downpours have caused disruption, with floods affecting businesses and many forms of transport across the South in recent days.

Meteorologist Matthew Box said Saturday's stormy weather broke out in Kent before moving across Essex, where some places saw 40 mm of rain in around 40 minutes.

"It may not mean anything to a non-meteorologist maybe but that is a healthy dose of rain in under an hour," he told the PA news agency.

Your Local Guardian: A burst water main damages the road and creates a sink hole on the A371 junction overnight. Image: @AFRSWinscombe/PA WireA burst water main damages the road and creates a sink hole on the A371 junction overnight. Image: @AFRSWinscombe/PA Wire

Box said Sunday was likely to bring large hail and gusty winds as well as rainfall of up to 90 mm in places hit by multiple thunderstorms.

He said: "We're going to see essentially some pulses of potentially thundery showers pushing their way up from the channel through the course of the morning affecting southern counties.

"In the afternoon we'll see some home-grown showers develop across the southern half of England and then they're all going to drift gradually northward."