Storm Claudia triggers mass travel shutdowns as torrential rain and severe warnings grip Britain.
Storm Claudia has pushed large parts of Britain into severe disruption as relentless rain, rising flood threats and widespread train cancellations combine to create one of the most treacherous weather days of the year. The Met Office has warned that dangerous conditions will continue from Friday into Saturday, with heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms sweeping across central and southern England and Wales. The storm, named earlier this week by the Spanish Meteorological Agency after it hammered Spain and Portugal, has kept its position to the west of the UK while still unleashing punishing downpours across the country.
Forecasters placed a broad band of regions under an amber warning for persistent and heavy rain from midday on Friday. That zone stretches across Wales, the Midlands, the South West, the South East and the east of England. Some locations in England could be soaked with as much as eighty millimetres of rain before the warning expires. Wales faces an even more ferocious onslaught, with one hundred to one hundred and fifty millimetres possible on higher ground and between fifty and seventy five millimetres more widely. The Met Office said strong easterly winds would intensify the danger throughout Friday, while thunderstorms could hit later in the day and worsen conditions further.
A separate yellow warning extends the threat across a much larger area, covering a line from Cheshire and North Yorkshire all the way to the south coast. That warning lasts through the night until early Saturday morning. Western parts of the UK also face severe gusts that could reach seventy miles per hour on Friday afternoon and evening. Although Storm Claudia is not expected to cross the United Kingdom directly, its position in the Atlantic has proven powerful enough to churn up widespread chaos.
Travellers have been urged to rethink their plans. The AA issued a strong appeal for caution, telling motorists that the weather created conditions that could shift in minutes. The organisation warned that even shallow flood water could become life threatening and insisted that drivers avoid attempting to cross it under any circumstances. National Rail echoed the alarm, saying passengers must check their journeys before setting out, since disruption is likely to affect services across England, Wales and Scotland into Saturday.
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In Devon, flooding between Exeter and Barnstaple is expected to disrupt trains until Sunday. A reduced timetable will run on Chiltern Railways and operators such as CrossCountry, London Northwestern and West Midlands are also braced for significant problems. In Scotland, speed restrictions were already in force early on Friday as the bad weather tightened its grip on the network.
Forecasters and emergency planners are now warning that the rainfall could trigger a dangerous rise in surface water. Flood duty manager Ben Lukey said prolonged rain would create a significant risk of flooding across parts of central England during Friday. River levels are also expected to react quickly, bringing further threats into Saturday. On Friday morning, three flood warnings were in place in north west England, alongside ninety six flood alerts. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency issued a flood warning for Glen Lyon in Perthshire and seven additional flood alerts across the country. Natural Resources Wales released twenty one alerts as conditions deteriorated.
Images from across the country show motorists struggling through sheets of spray on major roads. Racegoers in Cheltenham faced fierce bursts of rain as the storm settled over the region. With saturated ground, strong winds and further downpours forecast into the weekend, authorities continue to urge the public to remain vigilant and avoid unnecessary travel. Storm Claudia is expected to keep battering Britain through Saturday morning, with forecasters warning that the worst impacts may not yet have passed.
