Storm Francis brings torrential rain to London as capital wakes up to flooded streets

Londoners are waking up to flooded streets as Storm Francis sweeps across the country bringing torrential rain and powerful winds.

Photos from south west London show roads overflowing as commuters struggle to make their way into work on Tuesday morning.

Shopkeepers can be seen nervously eyeing the rising tide, as cars pushed through flooded streets.

Storm Francis also brought gusts of more than 50mph overnight, sweeping the country.

Clare King, in Raynes Park, south west London, tweeted: "One hour of biblical rain and its all happening here in SW London!"

Nathan O'Connor tweeted that he was in fear of flooding, despite living on the 14th floor of an apartment block.

"Rained heavy in London for the first time in months. I live on the 14th floor of an apartment block so have very little fear of flooding", he tweeted.

"Until today. About 3 inches of water on my balcony, which came into the sitting room."

The heaviest of the rain is expected to fall across Northern Ireland and south-west Scotland with the Met Office warning of the potential for flooding and issuing a yellow warning.

It said up to 90mm of rain could fall while a yellow warning for wind is in place in Wales and most of England with gusts of up to 70mph predicted.

The Met Office has never had two named storms in August since the process started in 2015, but Francis comes on the back of Ellen which struck last week and caused power outages.

Ellen also saw 15-year-old Nicola Williams swept to her death in the Rhymney River in Llanrumney, Cardiff, and a 50-year-old holidaymaker die in the sea near Helston, west Cornwall, after getting into difficulties.

Forecasters said the winds were “unusual” for August, but would have to go some way to beat the current record wind gust speed of 87mph recorded at The Needles on the Isle of Wight in August 1996.

Likewise, the wettest August on record in the UK was in 1912 when 167.3 mm was recorded across the country as a whole.

Between August 1 and 22, the UK as a whole had seen some 72.7mm of rainfall – around four-fifths of the average rainfall for the month.

No new storm is currently forecast this month, meaning the next storm will begin with A rather than G, as the storm-naming calendar resets on September 1.