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London is braced for torrential rain and thunderstorms after forecasters issued a weather warning for the capital.

A yellow warning of rain was issued by the Met Office, alerting Londoners that severe weather could hit the capital during the Tuesday evening rush hour and overnight into Wednesday.

Forecasters have warned that thundery showers are expected across the south and east of England, the Midlands and Wales on Tuesday, while the North will be affected the following day.

Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said some areas will see between 20mm and 30mm of rainfall in an hour.

"The whole of southern England and Wales will be affected by thunderstorms and potential heavy downpours," he said.

Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge - In pictures 19 show all Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge - In pictures 1/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 2/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 3/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 4/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 5/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 6/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 7/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 8/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 9/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 10/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 11/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 12/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 13/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 14/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 15/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 16/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 17/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 18/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 19/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 1/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 2/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 3/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 4/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 5/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 6/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 7/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 8/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 9/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 10/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 11/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 12/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 13/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 14/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 15/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 16/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 17/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 18/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn 19/19 Rain storm hits commuters on London Bridge as they battle against the rain and new anti terrorist barriers Jeremy Selwyn

The Met Office said there was a chance of large hailstones and localised flooding of homes, businesses and roads.

Frequent lightning may pose the risk of disruption to power networks on both days across all regions, it added.

The weather warning has been put in place from 5pm on Tuesday until 8pm on Wednesday.

Mr Claydon said that on Wednesday "the storms will cover a much wider area, taking up all of Wales but stopping before Scotland", from the early hours through to 8pm.

He added: "There will be scattered storms and some areas could see 30mm of rainfall in an hour, while there could be rainfall of up to 50mm in two to three hours in some areas."

The warnings come after a spell of warm, dry weather across the country which has seen highs of 31C.