Met Office issues fresh weather warnings as storm officially named

The Met Office has issued fresh weather warnings heading into next week as Storm Ciarán is set to sweep across the UK later this week.

The forecasters have said severe weather warnings are to be expected until Thursday, before the latest named storm is due to arrive.

Ciarán is due to bring 80mph gusts to areas along the south coast of England, with a small risk of some more exposed areas seeing wind speeds of up to 90mph. Meanwhile, up to 60mm of rain is expected to fall in some areas.

Storm Ciarán comes after areas across Scotland and northeast England were battered with the worst of Storm Babet, which caused serious damage and several deaths when it hit last week.

Met office deputy chief meteorologist, Chris Almond, said: “Heavy and persistent rain will fall onto already saturated ground bringing a risk of further impacts such as flooding in areas that are already struggling to clean up from the heavy rainfall we have seen over the last week or so.”

It comes as new yellow weather warnings were issued today for rain in parts of southern and southeast England on Wednesday for the entirety of southern England, London, south Wales and the West Midlands.

The yellow warning for rain is set to be in effect from 6pm on Wednesday to midnight on Thursday, while the yellow warning for wind will come into place at midnight on Wednesday and remain in place until 6pm on Thursday.

The latest warning follows several others issued by the forecasters over the weekend. Yellow weather warnings for rain are currently in place for areas in London, the south of England, central and eastern Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Further flooding is to be expected as rainfall hits ground that is “already saturated”. The Environment Agency currently has a staggering 71 flood warnings in place across England and a further 172 flood alerts.

On Saturday, a shopping centre in Hastings had to be evacuated due to flooding. East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said they were assisting with the situation as social media footage showed deep floodwater had come inside through the entrance on Station Road.

In Scotland, 18 flood warnings and 11 flood alerts are currently in place. The Met Office issued a “danger to life” warning in the area due to the possibility of “fast flowing” and “deep floodwater”.

They added that some communities may be cut off by flooded roads while power cuts were to be expected and the worst affected regions could see 70mph gusts or up to four inches of rain.

The Met Office also warned of delays or cancellations to train and bus services in areas affected by the yellow weather warnings. Some rail services in Scotland have also been suspended or disrupted due to the weather until Monday.

Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Tony Wardle said: “While the start of next week will see this unsettled theme to the weather continue, there’s increasing confidence of a deep area of low pressure influencing the UK’s weather from the west, bringing a more concerted period of wet and windy weather.

“However, at this range, we’re still determining the exact positioning, depth and likely impact of this system, but it’s something that’s likely to influence the UK’s weather from the middle of next week.”