Flood alert issued in Sheffield as heavy rain batters UK before Christmas

A yellow Met Office weather warning for rain stretched from East Anglia, across Leicester, parts of Birmingham and north London, and through to mid-Wales and Cornwall, and remained in place until 2am on Thursday.

The BBC reported the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service received 500 calls for help on Wednesday as the downpours hit many parts of the country.

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service said they had handled more than 250 flood calls, with several properties inundated and multiple people rescued from their stranded vehicles.

The Environment Agency (EA) had issued more than 90 flood warnings for England as of 5am on Thursday, including 16 warnings related to the River Severn on the Welsh border.

Other areas covered by flood warnings included part of the Great River Ouse and the Chediston watercourse in Suffolk.

Nine further flood warnings were issued by Natural Resources Wales.

The Environment Agency also issued a further 149 flood alerts, which warn of possible flooding and urge preparedness.

A flood alert has been issued at Lower River Rother where the Environment Agency has warned flooding of low-lying roads and farmland is possible.

Nottinghamshire Police said emergency services had been called to a report of a landslide near some homes near a former quarry at 11.40pm on Wednesday.

The force said a “small number” of properties have been evacuated, and police, fire and ambulance services, along with Mansfield District Council officials, were sent at the scene at Bank End Close in Mansfield to conduct safety assessments.

According to a Natural Resources Wales gauge, 60.4 mm of rain fell within 13 hours at the Trevethin reservoir in southern Wales on Wednesday.

44.6 mm of rain was also detected in Corby, Northamptonshire, in the same period according to Environment Agency figures.

The heavy rain caused disruption to travel, with many areas including Cardiff reporting surface water on the roads.

Alex Burkill, a meteorologist for the Met Office told the PA news agency: “There’s been a lot of wet weather around, we’ve had a heavy rain across much of England and Wales, particularly southern parts of Wales but also further east.”