Heavy rain set to bring floods and travel disruption

Maidstone in Kent is one of the areas affected by heavy rain

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 more widely 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.

Ruislip in north-west London saw downpours overnight into Monday

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 called on people to find alternative routes.

The LFB posted on X, formerly known as 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 some lines - including the District, Overground, Metropolitan, Picadilly and Bakerloo - have been either partly suspended or subject to minor to severe delays because of flooding caused by heavy rain.

Overnight the London Fire Brigade had to attend to a vehicle stranded in flood water in Wallington, Sutton

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.

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 area covered by the amber warning was now stretches from Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, though Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Gloucestershire and into parts of Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire.

In Oxfordshire, a handful of schools have been forced to close and switch to remote learning for the day because of the persistent heavy rain.

The Oxford Bus Company has also been forced to divert some buses on some routes due to the "increasingly difficult weather conditions".

Between 100 and 120mm of rain could fall on 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.