The amber alert covers much of north-east England, where the Met Office has warned there could be flooding and disruption on Friday and Saturday.
More than 60mm (2.4 inches) of rain is expected to fall in 36 hours in some areas, approaching the 69.9mm (2.8 inches) UK average rainfall for the month of July. The average July rainfall for the north of England is 64.4mm (2.5 inches).
Rain is expected to fall in much of the UK on Friday, with less severe yellow warnings issued for eastern, northern and central areas of England and Wales and parts of southern Scotland.
A Met Office spokesman said Friday’s rain would be ”prolonged, quite persistent and heavy”.
He added: ”This is likely to lead to surface water flooding, particularly in the amber area, where there is an increasing likelihood of river flooding.
Last month was the wettest June since records began, with double the average rain falling during the month. Provisional figures from the Met Office showed the UK received 145.3mm (5.7 inches) during June, beating the previous record of 136.2mm (5.4 inches) in June 2007.
It was the second month this year to see record-breaking amounts of rain, after this April became the wettest in the records dating back more than a century to 1910. June saw long, prolonged rainfall and short but exceptionally heavy showers, and ended with freak storms which battered areas of the Midlands and the North East. The exceptional amount of rain caused floods in Wales and parts of England.
Telegraph has the full article
