Met Office issue 'danger to life' warning ahead of 36 hours of rain

23 October 2019, 08:51

The Met Office has issued a "danger to life" warning ahead of 36 hours of rain which is set to fall this weekend.

They have warned of flooding, power cuts and severe transport disruption on Friday and Saturday.

Severe weather is set to hit two areas from around midday on Friday to the end of Saturday.

The first yellow warning covers most of Wales, and the second covers much of the North of England across Manchester and Newcastle.Up to 60 mm of rainfall is expected across the North of England and Wales.

Across the North and West Wales, the Lake District and the Pennines more than 100 mm of rain is expected.

The Met Office has said that this weather could bring a chance of power cuts and loss of power to some homes and businesses.

They have also warned "there is a slight chance of fast flowing or deep floodwater causing danger to life".

Driving conditions are also expected to be bad, particularly in terms of visibility, with the weather also like to affect transport services.

The Met Office yellow weather warning reads: "Rain is expected to arrive across parts of the UK during Friday and become heavy and persistent, this is especially true for high ground exposed to the strong southwesterly wind.

"There remains some uncertainty to the locations likely to see the highest rainfall totals.

"This rain is expected to continue falling in similar areas for around 24 hours."

As such during this period 40-60 mm of rain is likely, with perhaps as much as 100 mm over higher ground.

The areas The Met Office are expecting to be affected are:

England:

Durham

Northumberland

Cumbria

Greater Manchester

Lancashire

North Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

Wales:

Blaenau

Gwent

Bridgend

Caerphilly

Cardiff

Carmarthenshire

Ceredigion

Conwy

Denbighshire

Gwynedd

Merthyr Tydfil

Monmouthshire

Neath

Port Talbot

Newport

Pembrokeshire

Powys

Rhondda Cynon

Taf

Swansea

Torfaen

Vale of Glamorgan

Wrexham