UK Weather latest: Flooding wreaks havoc but cold temperatures may bring ‘White Christmas’

People waking up on December 25 may see a “white Christmas” as cooler temperatures bring frost to some parts of the UK.

The forecast comes as flooding wreaked havoc overnight prompting a Christmas Eve clean-up for many households and businesses.

The Met Office said the rain is due to stop today, paving the way for cooler temperatures and frost on the morning of Christmas Day.

Alex Burkill, a meteorologist at the Met Office, told the PA news agency: “Christmas Eve night into Christmas Day is going to be very cold, with harsh widespread frost first thing Christmas morning.

“So it could be a ‘white’ Christmas in as much as lots of people are going to wake up to a frost.”

Christmas Day will be dry and settled for most of the UK, however, there may be showers in the eastern parts of England that bring the possibility of sleet or snow in the morning.

The meteorologist added that small amounts of snow may settle on the hills and mountains in Scotland.

UK Flooding: December 2020

A flood warning sign at the entrance to a flooded car park beside Tewkesbury Abbey
1/13

Emergency services in England and Wales have been inundated with requests for help after heavy rain fell across the UK.

Homes in various parts of the country, including East Anglia and Gloucester, were flooded after heavy rain on Wednesday and overnight.

A yellow Met Office weather warning for rain stretched from East Anglia, across Leicester, parts of Birmingham and north London until 2am.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service received 500 calls for help on Wednesday as the downpours hit many parts of the country.

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service said they had handled more than 250 flood calls. Several properties there were inundated and multiple people rescued from their stranded vehicles.

The Environment Agency (EA) had issued more than 90 flood warnings for England as of 5am on Thursday, including 16 warnings related to the River Severn on the Welsh border.

Winter weather Dec 24th 2020
Flood defences have been installed in Ironbridge, Shropshire
PA

Patrick Lloyd, 27, from Peterborough, told the PA news agency he woke up to find much of his home had been submerged in water, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

He added that he had to help rescue an elderly neighbour who had become trapped without power.

Mr Lloyd said the 86-year-old woman had eventually been taken to hospital after spending around 50 minutes in the “freezing” floodwater.

“Luckily a bloke driving by saw her and got out and helped us with her. We had to get the fire service out to get her on to a board and we lifted her out for an ambulance,” he said.

Winter weather Dec 23rd 2020
Traffic on the A40 dual carriageway at Highnam in Gloucester
PA

“We were worried about hypothermia, she spent a night in hospital, no idea if she made it or not.”

Other areas covered by flood warnings included part of the Great River Ouse and the Chediston watercourse in Suffolk.

Nine further flood warnings were issued by Natural Resources Wales.

The Environment Agency also issued a further 149 flood alerts, which warn of possible flooding and urge preparedness.

Nottinghamshire Police said emergency services had been called to a report of a landslide near some homes near a former quarry at 11.40pm on Wednesday.

The force said a "small number" of properties have been evacuated, and police, fire and ambulance services, along with Mansfield District Council officials, were sent at the scene at Bank End Close in Mansfield to conduct safety assessments.

According to a Natural Resources Wales gauge, 60.4 mm of rain fell within 13 hours at the Trevethin reservoir in southern Wales on Wednesday.

44.6 mm of rain was also detected in Corby, Northamptonshire, in the same period according to Environment Agency figures.

The heavy rain caused disruption to travel, with many areas including Cardiff reporting surface water on the roads.

Alex Burkill, a meteorologist for the Met Office said: "There's been a lot of wet weather around, we've had a heavy rain across much of England and Wales, particularly southern parts of Wales but also further east.

"Most places in England and Wales have been really wet and we've seen strengthening winds too, there have been some gales in exposed parts, so quite unpleasant really."

Mr Burkill later said the rainfall would cease overnight into Christmas Eve.

He said: "The wet weather we've got over us at the moment that's all going to clear away towards the south-east as we go through the night so for Christmas Eve we're going to have lots of fine weather around, with lots of sunshine and a cold northerly flow." 

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in