Violent and widespread storms cause flooding, power cuts and fires, and disrupt rail and road networks

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

The fine weather has broken in spectacular fashion across swaths of the UK, with violent thunderstorms, lightning and torrential rain causing disruption on the rail and road networks and leading to flooding, power cuts and fires.

A severe weather warning was put in place by the Met Office, which said that the storms would continue to cause problems in some areas for the rest of Tuesday and into Wednesday.

The change in the weather brought disruption for thousands of rail passengers and commuters using the underground. Rush-hour travellers in London, northern England, the west Midlands, south and east England and parts of Scotland were affected.

Train passengers in Manchester bore the brunt of the problems after track signals were damaged by a lightning strike, stranding some trains at Manchester Piccadilly station.

Rail signals were also hit by lightning in eastern England, the west Midlands and Bristol, while in Kent fallen electricity cables and flooding on the lines led to cancellations and delays.

It was a frustrating, and sticky, commute on the London underground, where there were delays on the district line. There were also freight service hold-ups in the Channel tunnel.

Motorists faced delays because of flooding on motorways in Bristol, the west Midlands and Manchester. Surface water caused problems in Birmingham city centre and on main roads leading to the city's airport.

A car in Hatfield, Worcestershire, makes its way through flash floods after heavy early morning thunderstorms. Photograph: David Davies/PA

Thousands of homes were briefly left without power in Gloucestershire and Bristol, and it was a busy night and morning for firefighters in some parts of the UK. Crews dealt with house fires apparently caused by lightning strikes in Kent, while the Greater Manchester fire service rescued drivers from two cars stranded in floodwater in Burnage.

The storms followed the hottest day of the year, on Monday, according to the Met Office. The highest temperatures were recorded at Heathrow airport and Northolt, north-west London, reaching 33.5C (92F), beating the year's previous high of 32.2C on 17 July.

Cardiff's Bute park was the hottest place in Wales, reporting 29.4C, while Auchincruive, in Ayrshire, Scotland, registered 26.8C, and Castlederg, in Northern Ireland, reached 26.3C.

The balm before the storm: a couple sit under a sun shade on the beach in Weymouth on Monday. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The Met Office's warning for severe weather risk, denoted by the colour yellow, covered almost the entirety of mainland Britain bar the western tips. A warning for Wednesday covers much of east and north England, and most of Scotland.

A Met Office spokesman described the storms as widespread and energetic. "Large rainfall totals, falling in short periods, perhaps exceeding 50mm in three hours, on to hard-baked ground, may lead to flooding locally, with hail and gusty winds an additional possibility.

"As is common in such situations, not everywhere will catch the heaviest of the storms, and some places may well escape altogether."

Pershore, in Worcestershire, recorded the highest rainfall total with rainfall of more than 25.8mm (an inch) falling overnight, half the area's 50mm average for the whole of July, the Met Office said.

Rochdale had 18.6mm of rain (0.7in) in 12 hours to 7am, while Monks Wood, in Cambridgeshire, recorded 15mm (0.6in).

A single flood alert, for the Middle Level of the Cambridgeshire fens, was put in place by the Environment Agency Tuesday morning.

While the storms are expected to persist into Wednesday in some places, areas unaffected are expected to continue to bask in sunshine and high temperatures.

Lightning strikes over Poole harbour. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The hot weather has taken its toll on the UK, with grass fires in London, mountain blazes in the Welsh valleys and forest fires in Fife, Scotland.

Wildlife experts warned of the risk of fires where there were "tinderbox" conditions after days of hot, dry, weather. Devon Wildlife Trust teamed up with the Devon and Somerset fire service to urge people in the region to avoid lighting fires, which could devastate habitats that are key for rare species and which can pose dangers to people and farmland.