Sheffield to be battered by 57 HOURS of heavy rain as Met Office warns of 'danger to life'

The Met Office has warned that the rain will start at 9pm on Monday and will not stop until Thursday at 6am.

Most of this will be heavy rain with an amber ‘danger to life’ warning issued by the Met Office on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Up to 70mm could fall in areas around Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield, but in isolated spots, particularly in the Peak District, 120mm could be possible.

It warns of “danger to life” due to fast-flowing or deep floodwater and a “good chance some communities cut off by flooded roads”.

A yellow rain alert is also in place for most of northern England and Wales from Tuesday to Wednesday, before most of the UK falls into the warning on Thursday.

Melted snow as well as the rain have led to the Environment Agency issuing 11 local flood warnings, all of them in eastern England and mainly in North Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

The cause of the heavy rain is a weather front of low pressure over the North Sea which could cause gales along the east of the UK going into Thursday.

Colder air over the North of the UK could bring snowfalls to Scotland and north-east England later in the week, where the cold butts against the weather front.

But there will be calmer conditions heading into the weekend, forecasters said.