Dramatic thunderstorms sweep across UK bringing 30,000 lightning strikes and flash floods - as ‘40C’ ‘heat dome’ arrives

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The Met Office said 29,074 lightning strikes have been recorded in the UK in the last 24 hours to 9am on Tuesday. All of these strikes were over England, with the majority – 18,540 – over Somerset.

The Met Office’s lightning map also shows there have been hundreds more strikes across south-east England on Tuesday morning.

The highest overnight temperature was 20.4C in Gosport, Hampshire, while eight other places recorded a tropical night where temperatures do not fall below 20C.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) said it had responded to around 400 calls overnight, including two house fires believed to be caused by lightning strikes and flooding of homes.

Read more: 'We are all at risk': Dire warning from ambulance chief as Britain faces 40C heatwave

Read more: Heatwave sparks travel chaos as lightning and floods leave commuters facing severe delays and train cancellations

Thunderstorms following soaring temperatures caused flash flooding in the capital, the LFB said, as it urged drivers not to drive through flooded areas.

There is severe disruption across London’s transport network on Tuesday, in part caused by the extreme weather.

On the Elizabeth Line, heavy rain has caused flooding which means there is no service between Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3 and Heathrow Terminal 4, Transport for London said.

Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne said: “It has been a very busy night for our control officers, firefighters and officers. Shortly after 4am, due to a large number of calls received by the brigade, we implemented our high-volume call procedure which means flooding calls where there is a risk to life are prioritised and crews then attend other calls as non-emergencies when they can.

“Operation Willow Beck was also temporarily stood up. Introduced in 2022 nationally by the Home Office and National Chiefs Fire Council, this is a pre-determined 999 call distribution procedure, which during times of extreme demand, can divert surplus emergency calls to unaffected fire and rescue service control rooms. I’d like to thank all of those colleagues in other fire rescue services who assisted us overnight, as well as our own staff for their hard work and professionalism during this busy period.

“Whilst the worst of the rain now seems to have passed, we continue to work through outstanding calls as well as receive new incidents as Londoners wake to see some of the damage caused by the storms overnight.

“We’d like to reassure Londoners that crews are available to respond to emergencies so please call 999 if you have to.”

The thunderstorms come amid extreme weather warnings for heat across parts of the country.

Schools across the country are closing, and transport bosses have warned people against all but essential travel amid rare red warnings over extreme temperatures that are expected to hit record highs for June.

A “heat-dome” settling over western Europe could bring temperatures of up to 40C in some parts of England and Wales in the middle part of the week, the Met Office has said.

Temperatures for the latest heatwave are likely to overtake the June record set in Hampshire in 1976 by several degrees and could come close to the UK’s all-time high of 40.3C which was measured in July 2022.

The hot conditions, which have been very rare in the UK until now, will be accompanied by high humidity and very warm nights, which will make it hard for people to recover overnight, the forecaster warned.

A red weather warning for extreme heat covering an area stretching from London to Swansea and Somerset to Birmingham was issued by the Met Office from 9am on Wednesday to 9pm on Thursday.

These are reserved for the most severe events, the Met Office said, meaning this heatwave is expected to bring “severe and significant impacts” including widespread health risks for many, not just those who are normally more vulnerable to the heat, and even danger to life.

Scores of schools across England and Wales announced they would close or finish early on several days this week to protect pupils amid the extreme heat.

Children have also been told they can wear PE kit rather than full school uniform, which typically involves long trousers and blazers. Some after-school clubs have also been cancelled.