London floods: 14 of the most dramatic images and videos as southern England battered by heavy rain

London and other parts of southern England experienced flash floods yesterday caused by heavy rain.

Pictures and videos from across the area showed roads covered in surface water after hours of downpours.

London Fire Brigade said that they took more than 600 calls concerning flooding on roads and in basements, while as many as eight Tube stations were closed.

Meanwhile, both Newham and Whipps Cross Hospitals in the east of the city urged patients to seek A&E treatment elsewhere, after they were affected by the floods.

All planned surgery and outpatient appointments have been cancelled at Whipps Cross Hospital. A spokeswoman for Barts Health NHS Trust said:

“We are continuing to experience operational issues at Whipps Cross Hospital due to the heavy rainfall yesterday.

“We cancelled all planned surgery and outpatient appointments for today, and are diverting ambulances while we work hard to clean up affected areas of the hospital.

“We are keeping the situation under constant review and will post updates about services as necessary.

“Meanwhile, we cleaned all areas affected by the flooding at Newham Hospital yesterday and its emergency department is now open to people needing emergency care.

“We are working closely with other hospitals across the Barts Health group to maintain patient care and asking the public to check the latest visiting arrangements for each hospital on our website before coming to any site.”

Eddie Elliott said the flooding was the worst he had ever seen it, after he cycled past Queenstown Road station in Battersea where the road had been “totally shut down”.

“Having been born and raised in London, I have never seen anything quite like it,” the 28-year-old writer told PA.

“It stands out as the worst I’ve experienced personally… totally shut down the whole road with buses stood broken down in the water.”

The wettest part of the country on Sunday was St James’s Park in London, where 41.6mm of rain fell.

PA

Standon Calling festival in Hertfordshire was also cancelled due to the floods.

The festival said in a statement: “Unfortunately due to flooding we will no longer be able to proceed with the festival.

“If you can safely leave the site this evening please do so as soon as possible. We are working on getting everyone off site as safely and quickly as possible.”

It comes just two weeks after Londoners witnessed similar scenes as around a month’s worth of rainfall fell in a day.

The Environment Agency currently has six flood warnings in place across the South East, while there are 19 alerts for potential flooding active throughout England and Wales.

Pudding Mill Lane station in east London was affected, as shown in the video at the top of the page.

As were other parts of east London:

And west and north London:

Met Office meteorologist Steven Keates said the storms were being caused by a convergence of air currents as warmth in the Earth’s surface from the recent heatwave rose to meet cooler air in the atmosphere.

Forecasters said Monday would be a “slightly quieter” day in the south with a few locally sharp showers and some heavier showers across the north of the UK.

However there are more thunderstorms on the way. The Met Office has issued yellow warnings for thunderstorms and rain in England and Scotland for the next four days possibly causing more flooding and transport disruption.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted on Monday afternoon: “My thoughts are with everyone affected by the flooding in London and the South East.“A huge thank you to the emergency services and volunteers helping families and businesses through this difficult time.”

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “We are seeing increasing incidents of extreme weather events linked to climate change.“This is not the first time in recent weeks that London has been hit by major flooding. Despite having limited powers in the area, it remains a key priority for myself and London’s council leaders that more is done urgently to tackle flooding and the other impacts of climate change.“This includes continuing to urge Thames Water to address localised issues with infrastructure that may exacerbate the impact of flooding.”