Met Office amber weather warning in force for England and Wales

An amber weather warning has been issued by the Met Office as parts of England and Wales are braced for heavy rain.

The warning for rain is in place until 21:00 BST across parts of central and southern England, while yellow rain warnings are in place across much of the rest of England, with the exception of the far south-west and parts of northern England, and eastern Wales.

Affected areas could experience flooding as more than a month’s worth of rain is expected to fall on Monday, the Met Office says.

Rain warnings were in place over the weekend as summer officially drew to a close following the autumn equinox on Sunday afternoon.

Overnight, London and the Home Counties were worst affected by the conditions.

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) has urged people not to drive through floodwater and to find alternative routes instead.

The LFB posted on X, formerly Twitter, a photo of a car stranded overnight in Wallington that they had to attend to, and warned that “a foot of moving water at just 6mph is enough to float a car”.

Transport for London (TfL) has also warned passengers that the Overground, District, Metropolitan, Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines have been either partly suspended or subject to minor to severe delays because of flooding caused by heavy rain.

National Rail is also reporting widespread disruption and cancellations to some train services throughout the day and has urged passengers to check their journeys ahead of time.

About a month’s worth of rain fell on parts of the Chilterns in four hours – most of it in just two hours.

In south-east England, a night of heavy rain forced the closure of an M25 slip road at Cobham in Surrey and led to delays on train services.

The A421 between Bedford and Milton Keynes has been shut because of flooding, as well as the rail line from from Bedford to Bletchley.

While there is a risk of some passing torrential downpours in most areas in England and south-east Wales on Monday, parts of central and southern England will be the focus for more persistent heavy rain.

The amber warning now stretches from Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, though Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Gloucestershire and into parts of Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire.

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency has issued at least 13 flood warnings for England, including Atherstone in Warwickshire, Leighton Buzzard and Luton in Bedfordshire, and parts of London including Wimbledon and South Ruislip.

Homes have been flooded, and a number of schools in Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire have been forced to close, with some switching to remote learning.

AFC Wimbledon also confirmed that Tuesday’s match against Newcastle United has been postponed because of overnight flooding of the River Wandle and surrounding areas, and that the club’s stadium will be closed until further notice.

AFC Wimbledon were due to face Newcastle for the third-round fixture of the Carabao Cup.

Between 100 and 120mm of rain could fall in the worst affected areas, with further flooding and disruption likely.

But some areas of the country will stay dry.

Looking ahead, another longer spell of rain will cross England and Wales during the day on Wednesday, but as that clears chillier air from the Arctic will move south across most of the UK for the end of the week.

Daytime temperatures on Friday will peak at just 8 to 13C.