Thunderstorms set to bring torrential rain and disruption to Suffolk

There were fears of more flash flooding like this in Duke Street, Ipswich. Picture: PAUL GEATER Archant

Forecasters have warned that Suffolk could face serious thunderstorms on Monday as the hot, humid weather comes to a spectacular end.

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The Met Office has issued a weather warning for the region for thunderstorms and heavy rain between 10am and 6pm on Monday – and Chris Bell from Norwich-based Weatherquest warned that some people could see flash flooding because of the nature of the rain.

Mr Bell said: “It is going to be a bit like it was last Thursday. Not everyone will see the rain, but those who do could have some heavy hail and it could hang around.

“There isn’t a lot of movement in the air so if you get one of these storms it could last for a couple of hours – and with heavy rain coming down for that length of time there could well be some flash flooding.”

On Thursday there were flooding problems at sites across the region – and lightning strikes hit rail signals causing massive problems for travellers that took 24 hours to sort out.

But the weather was very scattered – there were storms near the Suffolk coast and in the north of the county, but in Ipswich it remained fine all day.

Monday’s storms are not likely to be the only rain the area sees this week.

The Met Office warning is for a band in the east of the region, including east Norfolk, part of Essex and the eastern side of Kent – Monday’s storms are not expected to hit the rest of the country.

That will be good news for sports fans hoping for uninterrupted play at Wimbledon or in the first Test Match at Lords between England and South Africa.

Mr Bell said another band of more general rain would be moving across on Tuesday – this will be more widespread but nowhere near as heavy. He said this would be more useful for the region’s gardeners.

And while the rest of the week should be brighter and fresher, he could not rule out the possibility of more rain showers through the week.

He said: “We are contacted by farmers who are trying to get hay in at this time of the year and come to us for a forecast. They need to know that there is likely to be five days of dry weather when they are cutting the hay – but at the moment we cannot promise them that is going to happen.”