London flooding: The most dramatic pictures and videos as commuters left stranded

Torrential flooding overnight left London commuters stranded this morning,

Pictures and videos shared to social media shows the scale of the floods that have left some parts of the capital under water.

This follows a yellow rain warning for London and the south east from the Met Office last night.

According to the forecasters, St James’ Park in central London was struck by 35mm of rain between midnight and 6am.

Commuters attempting to get into the office early this morning were met with severe delays on public transport and flooded streets.

Earlier TfL reported “severe delays” on the Circle Line, District Line, Hammersmith and City Line due to signal failure caused by flooding at Gloucester Road. The overground has also been hit by severe delays between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction due to flooding in the Imperial Wharf area.

The flooding at Imperial Wharf also impacted Southern Rail, with all lines via Shepherds Bush blocked.

The Metropolitan line was also affected by flooding at Aldgate earlier this morning.

At the time of writing TfL reports good service on all other lines except for: Circle Line, District Line, Hammersmith and City Line, and London Overground.

Train tickets will be accepted on buses.

Those travelling by car were also inconvenienced by the downpour, with a whole lane of the A4 past the Hammersmith Flyover being completely submerged this morning.

TfL says that the A3 underpass (northbound) is closed due to flooding, and heavy rainfall has led to flooding across all lanes of the A41 carriageway at the junction of Hendon Way and Brent Cross Flyover. The A12 has also been impacted, with the Green Man Tunnel remaining closed and lane closures at the junction of Wansbeck Road.

The Met Office has now issued a yellow rain warning for the north and northeast after the storms battered London.

Meteorologist Grahame Madge has said the northeast could experience up to 50mm of rain throughout the day – even higher levels than those recorded in the south overnight.

A spokesperson for London mayor Sadiq Khan said the flash flooding is causing “concern and anxiety” for many Londoners and it “shows once again the dangers of climate change have moved closer to home.”

They added: “It remains a key priority for the mayor and London’s council leaders that more is urgently done to tackle the risk of surface water flooding and the other impacts of the climate crisis.”

Khan added on Twitter that TfL is “working hard with local councils to open roads and return affected Tube and rail service to normal as quickly and safely as possible”. He has also called on the government to devolve more funding and powers to local leaders to help them deal with flooding, adding that Cop26 is an opportunity to show “global leadership” against climate change.

In light of the dismal forecast, The Environment Agency has issued 45 alerts for where flooding is possible, and four flood warnings for areas where flooding is expected.

Last night’s rainfall in London comes just weeks after several tube stations and major roads, including Tower Bridge, were flooded following a torrential downpour. 

London and parts of southern England were also hit by severe downpours in July when as many as eight tube stations were forced to close.

Better start building that ark, Boris.

Additional reporting by PA.