Thunderstorm warnings in place amid travel disruptionon June 12, 2023 at 7:16 pm

Thunderstorms have brought torrential downpours and flooding to parts of the UK on Monday.

Cars could be seen ploughing through deep puddles after flash flooding in north-west London.

Meanwhile, Manchester City’s victory parade celebrating their Treble win was delayed by 30 minutes due to lightning storms.

Weather warnings are in place across much of the country.

An amber thunderstorm warning is in place for an area of north-west England and north Wales including Liverpool, Chester and Wrexham until 22:00 BST on Monday.

Forecasters say that here, thunderstorms are likely to bring surface water flooding, impacting property and travel. Power cuts are also likely, and some communities are likely to become temporarily cut off if roads flood.

Elsewhere, there are yellow thunderstorm warnings for much of Wales, a large swathe of northern and western Scotland, a large area of England including London and Manchester, and parts of Northern Ireland, valid until 21:00 BST – this “may bring some disruption”, such as road closures and power cuts.

For Tuesday, there are yellow thunderstorm warnings for much of Northern Ireland, and a western area of Scotland, from 12:00 BST to 21:00 BST.

BBC Weather meteorologist Stav Danaos said a number of thunderstorms in the Midlands had brought intense downpours in places, with Woburn in Bedfordshire catching 26.4mm in one hour on Monday afternoon.

Drumnadrochit, on the western shore of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands, saw 32.4mm in one hour, followed by another 10.6mm in the following hour.

There were around 7,500 lighting strikes recorded, with more expected.

The bad weather has had a large impact on travel, including air travel, roads and planes.

Gatwick Airport in Sussex has encouraged passengers to contact their airline for further information due to thunderstorms throughout the day.

Thunderstorms in the south of England on Sunday led to flight cancellations, with knock-on cancellations on Monday due to planes being out of position.

EasyJet axed over 50 flights to and from Gatwick Airport on Sunday, and a similar number on Monday. More than 15,000 easyJet passengers have been affected.

The airline has apologised to customers for the disruption, which they said was “out of their control”.

A spokesperson said EasyJet was doing everything possible to minimise impact, “providing those on cancelled flights with options to rebook or receive a refund as well as hotel accommodation and meals where required”.

Passengers are not entitled to compensation in this case under UK consumer law as the disruption’s cause is out of the airline’s control, but passengers must be offered new flight options, food and drink, and overnight accommodation, if required.

BA cut six flights to and from Gatwick and around 20 to and from London’s Heathrow Airport on Sunday, with a few cancellations of Heathrow flights on Monday due to the knock-on effect of previous cancellations.

Jo Rhodes, deputy editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, said: “If delayed for more than two hours, passengers will be entitled to assistance such as free meals or refreshments, and overnight accommodation if required.”

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has also issued an amber alert for hot weather until 0900 BST on Tuesday in the West Midlands, East Midlands, east of England, South East and South West.

It means high temperatures could affect all ages and impact the health service.