UK storm alert: Met Office issues urgent 11 hour thunderstorm warning as chaos expected

The Met Office has extended a series of yellow warnings after storms and heavy rain overnight (Image: Getty)

The Met Office has issued an 11-hour warning after heavy rain and thunderstorms battered the UK overnight.

The forecaster has put in two yellow warnings for thunderstorms in the south and south west of England, but one of these has been extended due to the adverse weather conditions.

Areas affected include London and nearby cities such as Oxford, Reading, and Slough in the west. In the east, this applies to Soutend-on-Sea, Luton, Essex, Thurrock and parts of Hertfordshire.

In their update, the Met Office said the warning had been extended until 10am because there was still a risk of thunderstorms.

The Met Office has extended weather warnings for the south and south east of England (Image: Met Office)

They explained: "Updates to warning area as thunderstorms have now cleared Sussex and most of Kent.

"However, the warning end time has been extended as thunderstorms are expected to continue through the morning before gradually clearing westwards.

"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 25 mm of rain to fall in 1 or 2 hours in a few places. Hail and gusty winds may also affect a few spots."

Further west, the Met Office had also issued a yellow thunderstorm warning for large swathes of Devon and southern Wales. This warning is in place from 8pm yesterday until 8am today.

The Met Office predicted that there was a chance "rain will be accompanied by thunderstorms and frequent lightning".

They added: "20 to 40 mm of rain is expected to fall quite widely with 50 mm possible in a few places. In some places, much of this rain may fall over a 2 or 3 hour period."

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".