‘The worst is yet to come’ as Manchester braces for more heavy rain and flooding amid ‘severe’ weather warning

The Met Office has warned that “the worst is yet to come” as Greater Manchester braces for more heavy rain and flooding amid a “severe” yellow weather alert.

Parts of the UK could see up to a month’s worth of rainfall in 24 hours – with a rain warning in place until Thursday morning (May 23) in north-west England.

Forecasters warned that Wednesday’s storms could mean “likely flash runoff or deep flooding” which could “cause danger to life”, heavy rain which could cause delays or cancellations of trains and buses over the coming days, as and difficult driving conditions. and some road closures.

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Tom Morgan, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said “the worst is yet to come” for parts of the UK, including Greater Manchester and the North West.

He said: “There was a lot of rainfall overnight in north-west and south Scotland, as well as in areas such as the Midlands, East Anglia and the Home Counties.

“The wettest area was Drayton Parslow in Buckinghamshire, which recorded 68.8mm in the last 24 hours. That’s almost a month of rainfall in one day. By comparison, most other areas saw an average of half a month of rain during the same time period.

“But there is still plenty of rain to come over the next 12 to 24 hours, particularly in North Wales and NW England. There could be some flooding in North Wales by midday on Thursday.”

Jonathan Day, flood service manager at the Environment Agency, said: “Heavy and persistent rain means significant inland flooding is likely in parts of north-west England and possible more widely today and tomorrow. Significant surface water flooding is also possible in southern England, where heavy showers and thunderstorms are likely.

“Environment Agency teams are on the ground and ready to respond, including by possibly operating flood basins in the Greater Manchester area to store water.

“We urge people to stay away from swollen rivers and not drive through flood water – it’s often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car.”

Conditions are then expected to improve as the low pressure responsible for the wet weather begins to ease, with a “mix of sun and showers” over the bank holiday weekend.