Flash flooding hits east London as heavy rain continues to lash down on UK

Flash flooding has hit east London as Britain braces for more heavy rain.

A huge downpour in Dagenham caused severe flooding on Sunday, as several centimetres of rain fell across the UK.

It follows flooding last week in Wales, as the UK swaps its heatwave for more wet weather after four days of thunderstorms.

A number of homes were flooded in Dagenham following the heavy rain at about 1pm on Sunday, which lasted for up to 50 minutes.

Lee Herwig, 28, said he and his neighbours were forced to use buckets to try to get the water out of gardens and into drains.

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He told Yahoo News UK: “It was carnage. The water was four inches deep in my garden.

“The downpour was huge. Where I live, the whole road was literally underwater.

“Me and the neighbours got our buckets out and tried to get the water into a drain.”

He said six homes nearby were left flooded after the torrential rain.

In a tweet, Barking and Dagenham Council said: “Flooding in areas of the borough.

“There is severe flooding in the Dagenham east area and officers from the council's Incident Response Unit are currently attending.

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“Please avoid the area where possible.”

The Met Office said there will be bursts of rain across the UK on Monday, with thundery downpours in the afternoon and thunderstorms in the evening.

A yellow warning for thunderstorms across much of England and Wales remains in place.

A yellow warning for heavy rain in Scotland on Tuesday could lead to localised flooding, the Met Office said.

There were more than 4,000 lightning strikes across the UK on Sunday, the Met Office said, as well as flash flooding.

Heavy rain hit parts of the south of England on Saturday, with 24.1 mm of rain falling in just an hour in Canterbury, Kent.

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In Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, the county's fire and rescue service were called to rescue two people and a dog after the car they were in became stuck in floodwater.

Floods also hit Essex on Saturday, with the heavy rain affecting many roads.

Greater Anglia trains said heavy rain flooding the railway and debris had delayed and cancelled trains between Colchester, also in Essex, and Marks Tey stations for several hours.

The Met Office said Writtle, a mile from Chelmsford, had 52.8 mm of rainfall in a 12-hour period.

Temperatures have dropped in the wake of last week’s heatwave.

The Lake District town of Keswick in Cumbria saw the mercury rise to 24.8C on Saturday.

However, this was milder than much of the week, where temperatures above 34C were recorded for six days in a row.