Met Office issues ‘severe’ warnings as 70mph winds and up to 2inches rain to batter Britain tonight

THE Met Office have issued a "severe" weather warning with 70mph winds and up to two inches of rain to batter the country tonight.

Brits are braced for wet and windy conditions which are expected to cause widespread disruption according to the weather service.

The Met Office have issued another yellow weather warning which is in place from 6pm today until midnight.

The warning covers parts of Northern Ireland, West Wales and southwest England.

And it warns there could be howling gusts of up to 70mph in coastal areas and as much as 20mm of rain falling in just one hour.

The wild weather comes off the back of torrential storms that saw a massive 28mm of rain fall in some areas last night.

The Met Office says a "short period of very heavy rain and squally winds" are "likely to cause some disruption, with some delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport considered likely".

It says bus and train services will "probably" be affected with journey times taking longer due to spray an "temporary flooding".

Some short term loss of power and other services is also possible - and there is a chance of hail and lightning in a few places, it added.

Parts of London suffered some flooding including Dagenham Heathway tube station, which had to temporarily close.

In a forecast for the week ahead the weather experts said heavy rain would dominate the outlook for the working week.

The Environment Agency has four flood warnings and 39 flood alerts in place, mainly across south-eastern parts of England.

Tonight, a band of heavy rain and very squally winds will affect western areas during the evening, easing as it moves east overnight.

A second yellow warning for rain was issued from 3pm until midnight for south-west Scotland, Lothian Borders and Strathclyde.

The areas expected to be affected are Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire.

Alexander Burkill, senior operational meteorologist at the Met Office, said: "Two warnings have been issued, one for a rain across parts of south-west Scotland due to totals building up later today.

"The second warning covers southwest England, much of Wales and parts of Northern Ireland.

"This is due to a squally band of rain that will bring very strong winds and intense rainfall.

"Rates of 20mm in an hour are possible with gusts of 50 to 60mph, perhaps 70mph in exposed spots.

"The band should move through fairly quickly but some impacts are still likely during the first part of the night due to the intense rain and winds."

Gusts could reach as much as 65mph, with the strongest winds then transferring east into southern and western England and Wales, as well as southwest Scotland.

Tomorrow will be a showery day for most, with some thundery downpours on the west coast of Wales and England.

Between the showers, there will be plenty of sunny spells across England and Wales.

Western parts will see the worst of the wind and the rain and could even get some thunder at times.

Wednesday will be a more settled picture for most of the UK, with lower wind speeds and fewer showers for most.

Plenty of sunshine in the east, while the west sees some mainly light showers although these could turn heavy at times.

There will be rain for north-western areas on Thursday and Friday, drier further south and east; becoming very mild and windy.

Despite the torrential downpours, many will see variable cloud and even some sunny spells near the end of the week.

The Met Office predicts that a northwest-southeast split is likely to develop into the weekend, bringing unsettled conditions to the northwest and more mild and clear weather in southern regions.