Perhaps as a moment of pathetic fallacy because of the football, last night the heavens well and truly opened with heavy rainfall, causing parts of London to experience flash floods.
In Hammersmith and Fulham, the local council declared an emergency in the borough after rain caused sewers to overflow and enter a number of homes.
Meanwhile, in South End Green, firefighters were called to help carry some walkers to safety across roads that had been flooded by water pouring off Hampstead Heath.
It really rained, basically, and some of the footage and images of the capital city submerged are truly remarkable. Here are nine of the most shocking videos taken by people on social media.
Stations on the London Underground network were affected:
As was Belsize Park:
Roads became slip and slides:
And the fire brigade had to intervene in Barnes:
Cars were submerged by the water:
And residents had to stay firmly indoors to wait for it to pass:
Parts of London received a month’s worth of rain in one day, reports show. A total of 47.8mm of rain fell in a 24-hour period in Kew, most of it in just one hour. The average monthly rainfall in July is 44.5mm.
Meanwhile, the London Fire Brigade said it had taken more than 1,000 calls related to flooding.
A spokesperson for the service told the BBC: “We’re asking people not to walk through or drive through the floodwater. Floodwater can be contaminated and vehicles can become unstable.”
Euston Station lines had to be shut down and underground stations, including Chalk Farm and Hampstead stations in north London and Wimbledon in the south, also closed.
It is expected to get warmer for the rest of the week so hopefully we don’t see a repeat of these scenes again.
