UK weather: Met Office amber warning in force for heavy rain and flooding

Winter has started off very wet, meteorologically speaking, with rain across much of the UK.

This trend is expected to continue through most of Monday and become particularly severe at times.

Rainfall totals will increase quite widely but the ground is so saturated that the Met Office has multiple yellow warnings in place.

The Met Office’s more severe yellow warning for south Wales will be in force until 23:59 GMT.

20 to 40 mm (0.8 to 1.6 inches) of rain is widely expected to fall here, with some southwest-facing hills seeing close to 120 mm (4.7 inches) of rain.

This means that a month’s worth of rain falls in just one day.

Widespread flooding is possible, with disruption to the road and rail network, loss of power and the potential disruption of communities.

The Met Office also warned that fast-flowing or deep floodwaters were possible and could be life-threatening.