Londoners warned to take precautions as Storm Ciarán approaches

Gusts of up to 50mph are expected in the capital

Londoners have been advised to take sensible precautions with severe weather expected to hit the capital as Storm Ciarán approaches.

A yellow wind and rain warning has been issued by the Met for London from 18:00 GMT on Wednesday into Thursday.

A flood alert is also in place along the Thames between Putney Bridge and Teddington in south-west London.

It follows reports of cars being flooded during high tide along the river in Chiswick on Monday.

Gusts of up to 50mph are expected in the capital, which could also see between 20 and 30mm of rain - with the worst of the weather anticipated to happen on Thursday.

Network Rail has urged passengers to check their journeys for any alerts ahead of travelling between Wednesday and Friday.

ThamesLink posted a joint statement with Gatwick Express and Southern Rail on X, formerly Twitter, urging people to stay at home during Thursday if possible.

"You should work from home on Thursday if you can, avoiding any non-essential journeys, particularly early on Thursday morning," the statement said.

"If lines are closed due to the storm, it's unlikely that we will be able to provide rail replacement transport. We expect road conditions to be very poor and equally affected by the storm," it added.

The Christmas light switch-on in Carnaby Street in central London has also been affected by the bad weather, with organisers saying it has been postponed until 8 November.

A spokesperson for the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "The mayor urges Londoners to take sensible precautions if they think they may be affected, particularly planning any journeys around the capital.

"The London Resilience Forum is bringing together the emergency services and other key agencies to coordinate plans and ensure the capital is as prepared and protected as possible for events such as these.

"Keeping Londoners safe is the mayor's top priority and the London Resilience Forum, which is chaired by the deputy mayor for fire and resilience, has well-rehearsed plans to ensure the capital's preparedness for a range of situations, including severe weather events."

London's airports have not been affected by the weather warning yet.

A spokesperson for Heathrow Airport said: "Heathrow is operating as usual with no impact to the current schedule. Colleagues are continuing to monitor the situation throughout the day to ensure passengers can get on their way."

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