Flooding from Storm Dennis could be worse than Storm Ciara, experts have warned as the weather system makes landfall in the UK this weekend.
A "perfect storm" of heavy rain, strong winds and melting snow could flood hundreds of homes in the UK, meteorologists warned on Friday (February 14).
In the South East, over 50 individual flood alerts were issued ahead of the storm's arrival.
Storm Dennis is expected to usher in 70mph winds and up to 140mm of rain in some areas.
#StormDennis continues to deepen in the Atlantic this evening and will then bring gales and heavy #rain across the UK through this #weekend
— Met Office (@metoffice) February 14, 2020
Stay #WeatherAware pic.twitter.com/0sGFwIDrjn
The Environment Agency (EA) said the flood impact from the weather system is likely to be worse than last weekend's Storm Ciara due to rain falling on already saturated ground.
Maria Herlihy, duty manager for the Environment Agency, said:
"Heavy downpours are expected across the South East on Friday night and into the weekend, which could lead to surface water flooding and significant travel disruption.
"Current forecasts indicate a heightened risk of flooding in parts of Surrey, Kent, Sussex and Hampshire."
🌪️ #StormDennis A ⚠️ yellow ⚠️ weather warning has been issued this weekend which will affect our services.
— Southeastern (@Se_Railway) February 14, 2020
⭕ Speed restrictions will be in place so check journey planners.
👇 See image for details, and attached tweet for more info.https://t.co/NpipuU7qVg pic.twitter.com/3m8W7TnTnX
The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for most of the UK this weekend.
John Curtin, the agency's executive director of flood and coastal risk management, warned of the potential for more serious consequences from Storm Dennis than were evident after Storm Ciara flooded 800 homes recently.
"This (storm) could be a step up from what we have seen before," he said.
"We had a big storm last weekend, (we now have) saturated catchments, snowmelt and rainfall, so it is a perfect storm," Curtin added.
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