Torrential rain cancels a festival and brings flash flooding

Heavy rain cancelled a festival and brought flash flooding to some areas.

Crowds at Birmingham's Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival were just some of those caught in torrential downpours on Saturday and the event was called off.

Several inches of water covered parts of Alum Rock Road in Birmingham and National Highways said link roads from the M6 onto the A38M had to be closed.

Flooding damage at Birmingham City's football ground has led to a jobs fair being called off.

Birmingham City FC said the torrential rain had led to flooding and a number of areas at St Andrew's, including hospitality boxes, lounges and suites, were out of bounds.

Severn Trent's Big Boost for Brum jobs event, due to be held at the ground on Monday, has been postponed.

Majid Mahmood filmed cars driving through the flood water in Alum Rock Road

Severn Trent had been expecting up to 1,000 people to attend.

Further thundery showers took place on Sunday and the Mostly Jazz festival, in Moseley, was briefly evacuated once more due to fears of a lightning strike.

On Saturday, the heavy rain meant headliners Ezra Collective were unable to perform.. Festival-goers said the evacuation had been well handled by the organisers but one man said everyone had been "soaked to the bone".

"We're absolutely devastated that this evening's weather took such a biblical turn," organisers said on Saturday.

They also thanked guests for their cooperation in evacuating the site and said they would reopen on Sunday.

Rain had been forecast and the organisers said they had hoped the storm would pass, but the flooding meant it was impossible to continue.

City councillor Majid Mahmood filmed flooding on Alum Rock Road between Sladefield Road and Woodwells Road.

He also tweeted to report flooding on Chipperfield Road.

In Lichfield, one road became flooded with water when a manhole lifted lifting up bricks and causing another area of ground to sink.

Sharon McCormack from Coppice Grove said neighbours did not dare drive over the road in case a car went into a hole.

She said the residents were all a bit stunned by what had happened and engineers called out to deal with the flood had said it was the worst they had seen.

People were also photographed paddling through water at a pub in Erdington and splashing in water at a bar in Digbeth.

The Environment Agency said it had been removing debris from metal grills covering waterways, to help reduce flooding.