Flash flooding sparks disruption across London amid torrential downpours

12 July 2021, 19:57 | Updated: 13 July 2021, 15:52

Flash floods across London cause travel chaos

Flash flooding sparked by torrential downpours has caused disruption across London on Monday evening.

Euston Station lines had to be shut after the downpours, leaving commuters unable to get in or out of the city that way.

TfL said the London Overground and Circle and District lines were suspended or severely delayed, while Chalk Farm and Hampstead Tube stations were also forced to close.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: "The line between Watford Junction and Euston has been closed and engineers are on site inspecting the track as the water recedes. As soon as it is safe to do so, we will have trains on the move again."

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A TfL spokesperson added: "Due to the weather, there has been significant flooding in different areas across the capital this afternoon and evening, which has had an impact on our services across the transport network.

"We apologise to our customers for any disruption and are working hard to minimise the impact to our services."

Flash floods across London cause travel chaos

Much of the flooding issues appeared to be in the south west and north west of London.

Images posted on social media showed flooded roads and submerged cars in Crouch End, Hampstead and Raynes Park.

Video footage also showed flooding at Sloane Square Tube station.

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said it had taken more than 1,000 calls related to flooding.

A spokesperson for the service said: "We're asking people not to walk through or drive through the flood water. Flood water can be contaminated and vehicles can become unstable.

"We're also asking people to look out for their neighbours and look out for weather warnings in their area."

Storms brought heavy rain to the capital from about 4.30pm.

Preston, in north-west England, was also affected by flooding, with a section of the M6 closing to traffic for some of Monday afternoon. It has since reopened.

The LFB earlier tweeted that it had received 150 calls in south-west London.

The brigade said: "Our 999 Control Officers have taken over 150 calls to flooding incidents across #SWLondon. Please only call 999 in an emergency. During a flood, don’t go out unless you have to. Avoid walking through flood water & take extra care on the roads."

The Met Office had issued a yellow weather warning for rain across a swathe of the south of England lasting until midnight on Monday.

Forecasters said parts of the South West could see 60mm of rainfall in just a few hours.