Storm Ciarán: Met Office warns London to be hit with heavy rain and wind - what to expect

The Met Office has warned London is to be battered by wind and rain later this week, as Storm Ciarán makes its way across the UK.

Yellow warnings are currently in-place for much of southern England and Wales from Wednesday evening through to Thursday night.

Much of London is currently included within the area expected to be impacted by the newly-named storm. The Met Office has said it will be monitoring the situation and its warnings over the coming days.

Londoners are being told to expect potential delays or cancellations to public transport, as well as possible damage to homes and closures of roads and bridges.

The Met Office has advice for what to do both during instances of heavy rain and wind, including slowing down while driving, securing loose items outside your home, and planning your route before travelling ahead of time, for example making sure you are aware of any closures.

Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Chris Almond said: “Winds associated with Storm Ciarán are likely to gust to 80mph along the south coast of England, with a small risk of somewhere exposed seeing 90mph, and winds could even gust up to 50 or 60 mph further inland.

“This deep low-pressure system will also bring heavy rain to much of the UK, but the heaviest rain is expected in southern and western areas with 20 to 25mm quite widely across the region but up to 40 to 60mm potentially over higher ground.  

“Heavy and persistent rain will fall onto already saturated ground bringing a risk of further impacts such as flooding in areas that are already struggling to clean up from the heavy rainfall we have seen over the last week or so.”