Flooding hits Birmingham as storm warnings cover much of England and Wales

Wet weather is officially back after months of drought conditions across the UK.

Flooding has hit part of the West Midlands as thunderstorms are forecast across large parts of England and Wales.

West Midlands Fire Service confirmed it had been called out to ‘significant flooding’ in Birmingham after a flood warning was issued for the Perry Barr area on Wednesday night due to rising river levels.

Birmingham City Council advised people to ‘take care and avoid walking, cycling or driving through flood water’.

The fire service said it was responding to incidents around Curbar Road, Thornbridge Avenue and Haddon Road.

The Environment Agency has issued 22 flooding alerts – meaning flooding is possible – in the Midlands and South East.

Two yellow thunderstorm warnings have also been declared for Thursday – one covering London and the South East until 8am on Thursday and the other for Wales and much of England from 5am until 10pm.

Some areas could see between 50-75mm of rainfall on Thursday, along with lightning and hail, which could cause some disruption, along with warm temperatures with highs of 27 or 28C, the Met Office said.

The South East warning area could see 30-40mm of rainfall and ‘fairly large hail between 1-2cm’, while the bigger warning area could have more than 75mm of rain through 12 hours in parts, Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said.

Temperatures will drop closer to average for the time of the year over the weekend, with highs of 24 or 25C on Friday, then 22 or 23C until Monday.

Mr Snell said of Thursday: ‘We’re watching the risk of some heavy rain and thunderstorms moving up from the south.

‘On Thursday, as we wake up, there will be a band of potentially heavy rain and thundery rain stretching across parts of the UK. For parts of the Midlands and Wales it’s going to be quite a wet day really.

‘We could see some further thunderstorms move into the south east around Thursday evening.’

Friday will see further heavy rain and thunderstorms across the UK, before further rain moves in over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Mr Snell added: ‘It’s not going to be a complete washout, if you’ve got outdoor plans over the weekend, keep a close eye as there will be rain moving in across most parts.’

It follows hot weather across the UK which coincided with extremely dry conditions, with drought being declared in nearly three-quarters of England and the whole of Wales.

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