Drivers were forced to abandon their cars in floodwater in London as more than 180 areas of England were put on flood watch.
London Fire Brigade sent four fire engines and around 25 firefighters to Abbey Wood last night, where a number of vehicles were stranded.
It put a 50-metre cordon in place at a roundabout but said all the drivers managed to escape their vehicles on their own.
An eyewitness in the area shared a video of water entering their bus and asked: “Anyone got a boat?!”
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England’s Environment Agency had 34 red flood warnings – where flooding is expected – in place on Wednesday afternoon, and 150 amber flood alerts – where flooding is possible.
There were several warnings in place for the River Ouse in York, which burst its banks earlier this week.
There were also six flood alerts in Wales.
Flooding also affected trains between Derby and East Midlands Parkway after water from fields swamped the tracks.
“The pumps are working but the volume of water coming off the fields has flooded the tracks. We’ll get trains moving normally as soon as possible,” Network Rail said.
The Met Office said it would turn brighter today in the North and North West after warnings earlier covered Scotland and other parts of the UK.
A yellow alert for heavy rain was in force until 8am.
The forecaster said patchy rain would continue to clear southeast England over the latter half of the day, though a band of rain will move southeast across Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and Wales overnight.
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On Thursday, rain will continue to move southeast across the country but will turn lighter and patchier as it goes.
Cloudy and mild weather is forecast for Friday to Sunday, which should be largely dry for many, but the far north will see more wind and rain.
