UK weather: Reading festival-goers don wellies as thunderstorms and lightning lash Britain amid Met Office warning
THUNDERSTORMS and lightning did not dampen music lovers’ spirits today as they flooded into a soggy Reading Festival.
Punters dragged sodden bags and crates of beer through ankle deep water at the Berkshire site as the rains finally fell after months of drought.
And the Richfield Avenue venue is set to become a mudbath as more than 100,000 music lovers roll in for the three-day bonanza.
The Arctic Monkeys and rapper Dave are amongst the headliners who will be entertaining the soggy crowd this weekend.
It comes as a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms covers much of the East of England, bits of the South Coast from Cambridge and Norwich, as well as London, Portsmouth and Brighton.
Millions of Brits awoke to longed-for downpours after months of hot weather which saw hosepipe bans rolled out across the country.
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The rain flooded roads in the South East, causing chaos in Surrey – only hours after Thames Water’s hosepipe ban came into force.
Two lanes are closed southbound on the rain-lashed A3 at Burpham after a collision between three vehicles – cops do not believe there were any serious injuries.
Police begged drivers to slow down and take heed of the conditions, with sheets of spray blinding motorists’ view of the road ahead.
Meanwhile there are traffic jams on the northbound carriageway near Grayshott where the road is flooded thanks to torrential rain.
Drivers were also told to expect longer journey times due to worse conditions while train delays are set to cause further travel chaos.
The rains also sparked power outages and building damage.
Nearly 900 homes were without electricity in Derby and a further 800 were plunged into darkness in the Cambridge area.
Around 200 properties were blacked out near Peterborough, 300 in the Milton Keynes area and 200 near Northampton.
Teams of power board engineers battled through the storms to start repairs and restore supplies as outages were reported all over the country.
Heavy rain has been falling from the early hours of Thursday with upwards of 60mm expected in some places.
In east London, Dagenham Heathway station was closed due to flooding caused by heavy rain.
And chaos erupted at as a number of exits were closed at Charing Cross station in central London following the downpour.
The Environment Agency has issued six alerts for areas where “flooding is possible”.
And the thunderstorms are set to last until 3pm this afternoon across the east and southeast of England.
In a tweet this morning, the Met Office said Andrewsfield in Essex reported a massive 36.4mm of rain in just one hour.
Lightning will also be an extra weather hazard, meteorologists warned.
The Met Office said: “There is a good chance driving conditions will be affected by spray, standing water and/or hail, leading to longer journey times by car and bus.
“Delays to train services are possible and some short term loss of power and other services is likely.
“Possibly some damage to a few buildings and structures from lightning strikes is possible and some flooding of a few homes and businesses likely – leading to some damage to buildings or structures.”
As of Wednesday, the UK as a whole had had only 46 per cent of the average total rainfall for August.
But Britain is set to sizzle over the Bank Holiday weekend as the Met Office revealed the exact date a 30C scorcher will hit.
It comes after Britain has experienced several thunderstorms and heatwaves in recent months.
The hottest ever night in the UK was recorded in July at 26.8C in Shirburn, Oxfordshire.
Last week millions braced for travel chaos with power cuts and flood warnings.
Brits were even told the “be ready” to flee their homes.
Flash flooding followed weeks of dry weather which left Britain bone-dry and in a drought.
The Environment Agency also claimed the drought could continue into next year as reservoir levels are so low amid the lengthy dry spell.
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And millions of residents have been hit with hosepipe bans as water firms try to fight off the effects of the heat.
Last month Britain experienced a 40C heatwave followed by thunder and lightning.
