Storm Debi: Thunderstorms to hit southern England as new weather warning issued

Storm Debi is the earliest storm in the UK to start with the letter D, a climate expert has noted – in other words, the country has reached its fourth named storm this year faster than ever before.

The Met Office maintains an alphabetic list of names for storms. Before Storm Debi, Storm Ciaran and Storm Babet have lashed the country in recent weeks while Storm Agnes hit in September.

“Another storm leaves yet more devastation, marking #StormDebi as the earliest named storm with the letter D for this stage in a season,” Peter Dynes, chief strategic officer at non profit MEER wrote.

“Those who deny the worsening state of the climate system are deluding themselves.”

A week’s worth of rain could fall in just a few hours across parts of the UK today as wet weather continues to batter the country.

The Met Office said 15-20mm of rain could hit parts of southern England and has issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms in that region.

The warning runs from 5am until midday on Tuesday and covers London, the south east and the south west of England.

“A week’s worth of rain could fall in an hour or two in that warning area and you could see wind speeds of 40-50mph,” Met Office meteorologist Marco Petagna said.

Some buildings could be damaged by lightning strikes or strong, gusty winds – while short power cuts are also considered “likely”.

Drivers and those thinking of taking a bus should expect their journeys to be longer due to spray, standing water and hail.

Trains and planes may also be delayed due to adverse weather conditions.

We’ll start up again in the morning to bring coverage of the expected storms across southern England

The yellow weather warning from the Met Office for thunderstorms tomorrow morning warns of “some damage to a few buildings and structures from lightning strikes or strong and gusty winds”.

There will also be possible delays to train services, and short term loss of power, as a band of squally, thundery rain pushes across the region.

It will be a blustery start to the day for southern England on Tuesday with a band of squally, thundery rain is likely to push quickly east through the morning

A shopworker had to be rescued by the emergency services as flooding devastated a row of businesses in south Galway,

Storm Debi caused chaos in the county early on Monday, particularly in Oranmore, where boats were washed off their moorings and shops flooded by sea water.

Ronan Hennigan, who owns the Londis supermarket in nearby Clarinbridge, said one of his workers called him at 4.35am to tell him water was getting into the shop.

Storm Debi is the fourth storm to affect Ireland since September, after Storms Babet and Ciaran left shops and homes in Midleton, Carlingford and Newry as well as elsewhere flooded after intense rainfall.

The Irish national director for fire and emergency management said Storm Debi is “probably the most intense storm” of the season so far.

Keith Leonard said: “It was probably the high winds of that leading edge of the storm as it came across the country that was the most hazardous piece.

“So probably the most intense storm we’ve had so far in the season.”

Yellow wind and rain warnings were in place in Northern Ireland on Monday, with amber warnings issued for counties Down and Armagh.

Some roads flooded and public transport services were disrupted, with around 2,000 customers left without power, mainly around Craigavon, Newry and Downpatrick.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he is sorry to hear about the impact of Storm Debi on parts of Ireland, adding it is the Government’s intention to expand a support scheme for businesses affected by the severe weather on Monday.

Mr Varadkar said: “I’m really sorry to hear about the impact of the severe weather around the country. I know it’s been particularly hard in Galway – both in the city and the county area.”

He said the enterprise support scheme, which was introduced following flooding in Midleton last month, has to go through a formal Government decision to be expanded to Galway, but added this is “really just a formality”.

“We really want to help businesses get back on their feet, particularly so close to Christmas, which is such an important time for retail sector and the hospitality sector in particular.”

Storm Debi brought wind gusts of more than 70mph to parts of Britain and Ireland on Monday, disrupting travel and leaving more than 100,000 without power.

British Airways cancelled 50 flights to and from London Heathrow, while ferries and trains were also disrupted.

Gusts of 77mph were recorded in Gwynedd, 74mph at Killowen in Northern Ireland and 68mph on the Isle of Man as the low pressure system moved across the Irish Sea.