Yahoo News Surreal scenes as 'biblical rain' sparks floods near Plymouth
Astonishing photos capture floods in areas near Plymouth today after 'biblical' amounts of rain caused a river to burst its banks. The River Yealm at Yealmpton has spilled out causing roads to swamp with water.
The Boldventure area is impassable with no traffic being able to pass out towards Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo. The A3121 from Ermington to Yealmpton has also been hit by standing water.
Homes also appear to have flooded as the Met Office sounds a thunderstorm warning for the entirety of Devon and all of the South West.
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One shocked onlooker in the area said: "Yealmpton - River Yealm has burst its banks. Must have been biblical rain here. This is the corner of Boldventure - no traffic can get from Yealmpton to Newton and Noss."
Thunder has also been heard in the Barbican area of Plymouth and wider areas of Devon have also heard rumbling. Short spells of heavy rain have also brought more misery.
The Met Office thunder alert - which warns that flooding is likely in some places - came into effect from 1pm today - Saturday, May 18.
People have been told to brace themselves for 'sudden flood' which could lead to driving conditions. There is also the chance that communities - like Yealmpton - could be cut off by flooded roads.
Where flooding or lightning strikes occur, there is a chance of delays and some cancellations to train and bus services. There is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded quickly, with damage to some buildings from floodwater.
The horrendous spell of heavy rain may not last for long - as weather charts predict that next weekend's Bank Holiday is set to be a scorcher. A 400-mile mini "heatwave" could hit large swathes of the UK and experts are not ruling out temperatures topping 30C in some of the hottest areas.
However, the Met Office has made it clear that it "can't promise anything", with meteorologist Alex Deakin saying previously: "There is not a strong signal, and that is often the case for this time of year, because it is May, because there is not a lot of contrast between the North Pole and the Equator, there is not a lot of power in the jetstream.
"There are hints... hints of high pressure. There are some signs of high pressure but it is far from nailed on. It is weak, it is just slightly more chance than not of high pressure... There has been a bit of chatter about high pressure returning. We can't really talk about that at this stage. There are a few signals at the moment, but pretty weak signals."
Meanwhile, this evening people may get a chance to witness the Northern Lights as a 'red alert' is issued with experts predicting it could be visible across many parts of the UK.
