Recent heavy rainfall in the county of Essex, England, has produced some substantial surface water flooding. Some weather stations reported near 50mm (2″) of rainfall this evening. It all started at around 3pm, when an intense rainstorm developed over Sittingbourne, Kent. The local Kent ASDA was flooded outside.
During the afternoon, the heavy rainstorm extended northwards into Essex and North London. These images were posted to our page earlier today of significant surface water flooding, with abandoned cars, in the Chelmsford area of Essex.
The Meadows Shopping Centre, Chelmsford, was flooded earlier. It was also evacuated to due concerns of increasing flood waters. This video from twitter shows sirens sounding during the evacuation.
Chelmsford just got a heavy downpour! Roads flooded and the Meadows shopping centre being evacuated. Lots of flooding inside. @EssexWeather @UKWX_ @UKWeatherLive @canveyisweather pic.twitter.com/8umbavZsYE
— Steven Quy (@StevenQuy) August 15, 2020
Whilst today’s thunderstorms calminate, there is a further risk of hefty downpours later tomorrow and into Monday morning. This risk is centred around eastern England and East Anglia, however, it is no guarantee that one particular location will see these thunderstorms, as they will be sporadic in nature. However, where these fall, they could become pretty severe in nature.
Here you can choose the area you would like to see the LIVE lightning strikes for. The thunderstorm alert is available below.