UK weather: Amber warning for heavy rain issued by Met Office - with 'rivers continuing to rise'

An amber warning for heavy rain has been issued by the Met Office - warning of further flooding and travel disruption across large swathes of the UK.

The new weather alert covers central England from 6pm on Thursday until 6am on Friday.

Nearly three inches of rain could fall over several hours in the worst-affected regions with "rivers continuing to rise after the rain clears", the Met Office warned.

Several yellow weather warnings had already been issued for large parts of the country from 6am on Thursday until 9am on Friday.

These include three separate warnings for rain - one covering western parts of Northern Ireland, one in northern England, and another for a large area covering most of England and Wales.

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"Slow moving showers and thunderstorms will develop through the afternoon, merging into a large band of heavy rain through the evening, before clearing slowly south overnight," the Met Office said of the amber alert.

"Some places, especially across central and eastern parts of the warning area, are likely to receive 30-40mm in three hours or less, and perhaps 50-60mm or more in around six hours.

"This rain will fall on to already saturated ground and affect communities recovering from recent flooding.

"Travel disruption and further flooding is likely, with rivers continuing to rise after the rain clears."

Delays and cancellations to train and bus services and power cuts are also likely, while motorists face road closures, and there is a "good chance" some communities could be cut off due to flooding, the forecaster warned.

The Environment Agency has 30 flood warnings in place across England, meaning flooding is expected - and 85 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible.

So far, heavy rain and thunderstorms have led to around 385 properties being flooded across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Kent and the Home Counties.

Kate Marks, flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, said in a statement that continued rainfall into the weekend "means that significant river and surface water flooding impacts are possible in parts of central England" - with "minor river flooding impacts are also possible in parts of north-east England".

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Met Office forecaster Paul Gundersen said: "With the rain on Wednesday and Thursday potentially falling on already saturated ground a number of warnings for rain have been issued outlining the increased risks for potential impacts."

The rain is expected to clear during Friday, leaving conditions much colder on Saturday.

Parts of the country saw more than the monthly average rainfall on Monday, with flash flooding damaging homes and disrupting travel.

There were further downpours on Wednesday evening.

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