Risk of flooding as fresh heavy rain warning is issued for South East

A weather warning saying heavy rain could lead to flooding has been issued for large parts of south-east England.

The Met Office’s yellow alert, from 11pm on Sunday until 10am on Monday, covers an area stretching from Chichester in West Sussex to Canterbury in Kent.

Homes and businesses could be hit by a deluge and public transport could be affected, the forecaster said.

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

Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge said: “We are expecting to see 15 to 25mm of rain but it’s basically mainly associated with some heavy showers.

“So a lot of it is to cover the potential for some very tricky driving conditions tomorrow morning, being obviously Monday morning so one of the busiest.”

Mr Partridge said the rain in the south east will ease off later on Monday but showers are predicted across the UK for much of the coming week.

The fresh front of rain overnight comes after a yellow alert was put out by the Met Office to cover the South East earlier on Sunday.

Plumpton, near Lewes, East Sussex, received 39mm of rain in 24 hours – more than a third of the average monthly rainfall for the area, the forecaster said.

Parts of the North West will also see heavy rain on Sunday night, it said. Showers will move north-east across northern areas on Monday and be heaviest over hills.

On Tuesday, areas across the UK will see downpours, which will ease on Wednesday, the weather agency added.

Rain will hit the North West again on Thursday, although there will be drier conditions further south east.