Canal, not road: London streets flooded as rain hammers down

As rain lashed down on London on Sunday, roads across the British capital were submerged in water leaving buses and cars stranded.

Videos and images of vehicles on flooded roads in southwest London emerged on social media, with more heavy rain set to fall as a band of thunderstorms made its way across southeast England.

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A user posted a picture on Twitter, which showed an area in Walthamstow where water levels had gone above the kerbs. He said, “It’s impossible to walk on the pavement. To get on that bus the water came up to my shins. This is a canal, not a road.”

Meanwhile, other motorists in Walthamstow, northeast London, too abandoned their vehicles as the rain hammered down.

Following the repeated requests and queries on social media, Mayor Sadiq Khan provided an update, tweeting that the emergency services were battling “significant flooding across London”, and added that all public transport services were affected and advising people to avoid walking or driving through flooded areas.

The Met Office issued an amber weather warning across London and surrounding counties until 7 pm local time (1800 GMT).

It warned there was a risk of lightning strikes and flooding, with up to 10 centimetres (four inches) of rain forecast to fall in some areas, almost double the monthly average for July.

Police closed a road near Queenstown Road station in southwest London, where three double-decker London buses were stuck under a railway bridge, according to AFP inputs.

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A driver, who gave his name as Eric, said passengers had to get off after his bus started taking on water.

Police said they were “currently dealing with numerous floods in the east,” warning that tunnels and roundabouts were submerged.

Because of the floods, many routes in the capital are blocked, including the Blackwall Tunnel, the A12, and portions of the North Circular. Other routes are experiencing significant delays.

The Metropolitan Police Special Constabulary sent a tweet, warning cars not to attempt to drive over floodwater if their path is closed.