Heavy rain and strong winds forecast for Shropshire today

A yellow weather warning for heavy rain is in place until 11.45pm tonight.

The Met Office has warned there is the potential for severe weather and people should be aware of the risk of flooding due to heavy rain as well as very strong winds.

Persistent, often heavy, rain will affect Shropshire for much of the day, before clearing to the north later. Scattered, locally heavy, showers will follow. The winds will strengthen, particularly later in the day with gusts around 40mph.

Chief Meteorologist, Paul Gundersen, said: "We're seeing the impacts of this unseasonable weather across the UK, with heavy rain and thunderstorms bringing the risk of flooding in some places.

"The westerly wind is expected to gust around 40-50 mph quite widely, perhaps in excess of 60 mph - this most likely across the Pennines where isolated gusts as high as 70 mph are possible. At this time of year, these wind strengths can lead to some disruption and tree damage and people should stay up to date with the latest Met Office warnings."

Severn Trent Water says they are prepared to help customers who may have problems during the heavy rain.

James Jesic, waste water manager said: “We have got plenty of staff on the phones in our call centre and lots of teams available out and about across the region to deal with flooding and any other issues the bad weather may bring. We’re also out and about keeping an eye on those areas with a high risk of flooding.

“Unfortunately, in stormy weather, the drains and sewers often have significantly more water flowing through them. When we get a lot of rain in one go, it has a hard time sinking into the ground; so it just runs off the surface and goes directly into drains and sewers.

“If you have flooding at your home, check to see if it’s just rainwater or if it’s sewage that has come from an overflowing sewer, possibly through a manhole cover in your garden or outside your property. If it’s just rainwater, the flooding should subside when it stops raining, although it can take up to four hours for water to drain away, so be patient. Where sewage is escaping this is obviously a priority for us, so please call us on 0800 783 4444 and we’ll get a team out to help as quickly as possible.

“If you’re concerned about flooding from drains and gullies in the road, you should call the local council as they are responsible for road drainage, but again, we generally find that the flooding will go away when it stops raining.”