The hottest summer on record has ended in a deluge as Britons battle a torrent of showers and are warned their homes could be at risk of flooding.
The Met Office has issued an expanded yellow warning this morning for London and the south east of England with up to 70mm (2.8in) of heavy rain set to fall up to 12pm.
As the end of August looks set to be a washout, this could be accompanied by ‘the odd rumbles of thunder’.
But there has been no change to the three hosepipe bans in place across the UK despite the three inches of deluge.
Thames Water asked 1.1million customers not to use hosepipes, including for cleaning cars, watering plants, filling pools or cleaning windows.
Homes served by the firm, as well as Yorkshire Water and South East Water, were hit by the ban following one of the driest springs on record and decreasing reservoir levels.
The Met Office have warned for those living in coastal areas, heavy showers are likely to be more prolonged and to consider preparing a flood plan and an emergency flood kit.
The torrential rain could also strike the public with power cuts as the Met Office advises to prepare for them in advance by gathering torches and batteries, a mobile phone power pack and other essential items.

The hottest summer on record has ended in a deluge as Britons battle a torrent of showers and are warned their homes could be at risk of flooding

The Met Office has issued an expanded yellow warning this morning for London and the south east of England with up to 70mm (2.8in) of heavy rain set to fall up to 12pm. Pictured: A woman braves the wet conditions in Wimbledon Common, south west London this morning

A walker with a dog on a waterlogged Wimbledon Common

Women shelter from the rain in waterproof coats as they walk through Westminster
Commuters should also expect road and public transport delays as travel chaos is set to hit the south-east of the country.
Weather chaos has hit parts of Devon and Cornwall as torrential rain has caused major flooding and damage to buildings.
Overnight rain saw a family rescued by fire crews from a flooded home in Torpoint, Cornwall.
A landslide also blocked the A379 in Devon in Modbury and ‘ankle-deep water’ was reported in the Isles of Scilly.
In Plymouth and Looe, properties were flooded, and fire crews in Devon were called to 15 incidents overnight.
The forecasters also issued a yellow weather warning for the south west of England and Wales yesterday, but the rain has now cleared and they have been removed from the warning.
Wet and windy conditions will sweep in for the final days of meteorological summer, with showers and longer spells of rain falling over much of the UK from last night.
Average rainfall this August is well below normal at 35.6mm, compared to the average of 93.75mm.

Wet and windy conditions will sweep in for the final days of meteorological summer, with showers and longer spells of rain falling over much of the UK from last night

As the end of August looks set to be a washout, this could be accompanied by ‘the odd rumbles of thunder’

The torrential rain could also strike the public with power cuts as the Met Office advises to prepare for them in advance by gathering torches and batteries, a mobile phone power pack and other essential items



A 14-hour warning covered London and the whole of England’s south coast, while a separate yellow alert was also in place for South Wales from 8am until 4pm yesterday.
Forecasters said heavy showers could merge into longer spells of heavy rain later today, which would reached South West England and South Wales last night.
These downpours have been pushed quickly east to affect other parts of southern and south-eastern England including the capital into this morning.
The Met Office said not everywhere will see heavy rain – but up to 20mm (0.8in) in less than an hour is possible; and up to 70 mm in a few hours, most likely near coasts.
Despite sporadic rain, temperatures were in the high teens for most areas yesterday, with highs of around 20C (68F) in London and the South East and 15C (59F) in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
On Tuesday, the Met Office said this summer would ‘almost certainly’ be the UK’s warmest on record as the mean average temperature for the season stood at 16.13C (61.03F), based on data up to August 25.
This is higher than the existing summer record of 15.76C (60.37F), which was set in 2018.
Zoe Hutin, a senior meteorologist at the Met Office, said: ‘Given the last two and a half month’s of hot weather, temperatures have been sufficiently above average that the comparatively lower temperatures coming will not significantly affect the mean temperature of the meteorological summer.

The Met Office have warned for those living in coastal areas, heavy showers are likely to be more prolonged and to consider preparing a flood plan and an emergency flood kit

The Met Office issued this earlier yellow warning for rain yesterday for between 10pm last night and 12pm today

Dark clouds and rainfall at Trafalgar Square in London yesterday ahead of the weather warning

A pedestrian walks through Trafalgar Square under an umbrella on a wet day in London yesterday

Wet paving slabs at Trafalgar Square in London yesterday afternoon following rainfall
‘Even taking that into account the rain and cloud which is forecast, it’s still going to likely be the warmest on record.
‘Mean temperatures would need to be around 10 degrees or so for this summer not to surpass the current hottest summer, and so it’s almost certainly going to be a record-breaker.
‘Temperatures are actually still a little bit above what is normally expected at the end of August, especially for the South East of the country.
‘For the North and North East, despite the rain and cloud, the temperatures will actually be around the average for this time of year, despite feeling a little bit cooler because of the unsettled conditions.
‘Urban spots especially could be around average or even a couple of degrees above average in places. So it looks likely it will still almost certainly be a record-breaking summer in terms of average temperatures, unless something drastic were to happen.’
A spell of more persistent rain is forecast over the weekend, with up to 20mm likely across many regions.
Strong winds could also hit, particularly along coasts, with gusts in excess of 50mph.
If this season is confirmed as setting a new high for average temperature, it will mean all of the UK’s top five warmest summers will have occurred since the year 2000.
The top five are currently 2018 (15.76C), 2006 (15.75C), 2003 (15.74C), 2022 (15.71C) and 1976 (15.70C).