Britain to be battered by more thunderstorms as Met Office issues new warnings

The Met Office has issued more weather warnings for huge swathes of the UK today. The forecaster has issued new warnings until midnight tonight (May 2) for the East of England, Wales, the South West, the East and West Midlands, and the North West.

The warnings are in place from midday today, and are the latest to be issued as the UK gets battered by thunder, lightning, wind and rain.

According to the Met Office, thunderstorms are set to develop this afternoon and evening, and may lead to travel disruption and some flooding.

They have warned that spray and sudden flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and some road closures, and there is a small chance some communities could be cut off by flooded roads.

Train and bus services are also at risk, if there are lightning strikes and flooding, as they could lead to delays and cancellations.

There is also a slight chance that power cuts could occur and other services to some homes and businesses could be lost. There is also a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded quickly, with damage to some buildings from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds.

Weather warnings were first issued yesterday, and thunderstorms swept parts of the UK overnight.

Initially, the warnings were extended until 10am today, but have since been extended again until midnight tonight across more areas of the UK.

Earlier, the Met Office explained: "Thunderstorms are expected to move westwards across some parts this morning bringing spells of heavy rain accompanied by frequent lightning with potential for 15 to 25mm of rain to fall in one or two hours in a few places. Hail and gusty winds may also affect a few spots."

Speaking to Sky, meteorologist for the Met Office Alex Deakin said: "You may well get woken up tonight by a rumble of thunder, or some flashes of lightning across parts of the South. A lot of heavy rain falling in a short space of time as well."

Mr Deakin added that there would be a "cloudy start to Thursday one way or another, still some heavy bursts of rain early on across the South West".

However, he added that it could "tend to clear away" but there was "always the likelihood of further showers across southern parts of England, Mid and South Wales".