Mopping-up under way after England flood chaos

Householders England were once again beginning the grim task of mopping up tonight after torrential rain caused widespread flooding and travel chaos.

Heavy downpours drenched vast areas of the country as an eerie darkness descended at the height of the monsoon-like outburst.

Some areas got twice the average rainfall for the whole of July in a matter of hours.

TV stations were paralysed as satellite reception went down, computers froze in offices and many towns ground to a halt, with flooding hitting a West Sussex hospital.

Flights were cancelled, rail and Underground services were severely disrupted and roads became impassable as southern and south west England bore the brunt of the wet weather which swept up through France.

During the worst of the weather 141 flights were cancelled in and out of Heathrow Airport and 25 Tube stations in London were closed due to flooding.

In south west London cars had to negotiate 2ft-deep floodwater and homes all over the country experienced flooding.

As the rain clouds lifted and floodwater subsided, transport services tonight began to return to normal.

A Transport for London spokesman said just four stations on the London Underground system remained closed, with services on the Circle line and sections of the District line still suspended.

Skies brightened over London sufficiently for play to resume in the England-India Test match at an earlier-soaked Lord’s cricket ground as the bad weather moved into the Midlands and parts of Wales.

But forecasters warned that more wet weather was on the way, with householders in north and central Wales, the Midlands and the North of England bracing themselves for further downpours over the weekend.

Helen Rossington, of the Press Association’s weather arm, MeteoGroup UK, said: “Britain is getting all the unsettled weather while the fine, hot stuff is in the Mediterranean.

“Average rainfall for the whole of July is about 35mm (1.4in), but some places have had as much as 85mm (3.5in) in the last few hours.”