A man in his 80s has died after his vehicle was submerged during flash flooding on a bank holiday weekend of extreme and varied weather across the UK.

Police were called to Rushall in Walsall just after 2am on Monday to reports that a vehicle had entered the water. The victim was taken to hospital but pronounced dead a short time later.

Parts of Birmingham and the West Midlands experienced more than a month’s rainfall in one hour on Sunday, leaving vehicles swamped by flood water up to 1.5 metres (5ft) deep. The flooding closed roads across the region, with a stretch of the M5 submerged.

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The Met Office said 58.6mm of rain fell in 60 minutes in Edgbaston, and 81mm came down in a 12-hour period. The monthly average for the West Midlands in May is 55mm.

Craig Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said the torrential rain had been very localised, pointing out that Coleshill in Warwickshire recorded just 3mm of rain in 12 hours.

A West Midlands ambulance service spokesman said its crew arrived in Rushall to find two vehicles in the water. “Firefighters who had entered the water had found an elderly man at the vehicle and taken him to an ambulance crew who were at the water’s edge,” said a spokesperson.

“The ambulance crew carried out advanced life support before taking the man to Walsall Manor hospital, but sadly he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.”

West Midlands fire service said it had dealt with more than 1,000 calls in just a few hours as the rainfell on Sunday. “We helped everyone we could, but had to prioritise incidents with life at risk, so if we weren’t able to help at the time, we apologise,” it said.



People in Birmingham shared dramatic pictures on social media of locals wading through water to push stranded cars and of wheelie bins floating down roads. One man was filmed attempting to swim in deep water on Birmingham’s Stratford Road.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A driver had to abandon their car after trying to cross a swollen ford in Moseley, Birmingham. Photograph: Andrew Fox/The Guardian

Birmingham city council said it could not put a figure on how many properties were affected by the flooding, and advised people to beware of debris as the water subsided. The council said a cleanup operation was under way with additional street cleaning crews.

It was the second time in two years that some roads in the city had experienced flash flooding. In June 2016, hundreds of homes were flooded, with Selly Park, Harborne and Woodgate Valley the areas worst affected.

While downpours were forecast to continue in some places on Monday, with a yellow weather warning for rain in place as thunderstorms roll through Wales and southern England, other areas were looking forward to the hottest day of the year so far.

Stansted brought to partial standstill after thunderstorms hit UK Read more

While flood warnings remained in place for parts of the Midlands, temperatures of up to 29C (84F) were expected in the south-east, potentially surpassing the record for this year of 29.1C on 19 April in central London.



Alex Deakin, a Met Office forecaster, said that while temperatures would stay high on Monday – with plenty of “hazy and warm sunshine” – there was a risk of further thunderstorms as the day went on. Downpours could “drop a lot of rain in a short period of time”, he said.

He forecast a grey start on Tuesday with a continuing threat of thundery showers in the south, with a lot of uncertainty about where exactly they would hit. Conditions are set to brighten later in the day, with temperatures easily reaching the high teens and low 20s.