London cleans up after massive flooding
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A motorcyclist riding through a flooded road in London's Nine Elms district on Sunday. Social media users posted videos of partially submerged vehicles.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
LONDON • A massive clean-up effort was under way in London yesterday after repeated thunderstorms battered the British capital, leaving buses and cars stranded in waterlogged streets and flooding homes and subway stations.
Social media users posted videos of partially submerged vehicles in south-west London, with more heavy rain set to fall as a band of thunderstorms made its way across south-east England, reported Agence France-Presse.
Eight subway stations were closed due to flooding, Transport for London said, including an above-ground station that was inundated, AP reported. Some motorists abandoned their vehicles.
Emergency services were battling "significant flooding across London", Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted, adding that all public transport services were hit and advising people to avoid walking or driving through flooded areas.
The UK Meteorological Office said 41.6mm of rain fell in central London on Sunday afternoon. But while that afternoon was drier, the Environment Ministry has kept in place four flood warnings for south-east England.
Police said they were "currently dealing with numerous floods in the east", warning that tunnels and roundabouts were submerged.
Correction note: An earlier version of this story said that 41.6cm of rain fell in central London on Sunday afternoon. This has been corrected to 41.6mm.
