Yellow rain warnings cover Wales, southern England and Scotland

The Met Office has issued a series of yellow weather warnings across parts of the United Kingdom as heavy rain from the remnants of Hurricane Erin and an Atlantic low pressure system moves in, threatening localized flooding, travel disruption and possible power cuts from Thursday into next week. Warnings cover swathes of Wales and southern England at different times this week and a separate alert for parts of southwest Scotland on Monday morning, forecasters said.

Officials said showers and longer spells of rain will be driven in from the Bristol Channel and the southwest by a westerly flow, with widely 10 to 20 millimetres of rain expected in many areas and higher accumulations where repeated downpours occur. The Met Office warned that some coastal and hilly locations could see substantially higher totals, with forecasts variously citing spots receiving 40 to 70 millimetres over a few hours. That risk of intense rain has prompted guidance to check whether properties are at risk of flooding and to prepare a flood plan and an emergency kit containing torches, spare batteries and a mobile phone power pack.

The alerts are staggered. In Wales, warnings apply for parts of Bridgend,...