Flash floods: drains and water courses may not be able to take the volume of water predicted to fall in rain storms in the next 48 hours
No sooner has the amber heatwave warning in south London faded away in some light rain than the Environment Agency has put the area on alert for flash flooding.
With heavy rain forecast to hit the capital today and tomorrow, flood alerts have been issued in Croydon, Sutton, Merton, Lambeth and six other south London boroughs.
The flood alert covers the entire course of the River Wandle, which rises in South Croydon and wends its largely underground way until it surfaces in Wandle Park before heading off towards Sutton and Merton and on to Wandsworth, with its Norbury Brook tributary also running into parts of Lambeth.
Another warning area impacts parts of Lewisham, Bromley and Greenwich around the Ravensbourne.
A third covers the Beverley Brook area including Richmond and Kingston.
Warning: the flood risk map for today and tomorrow, as issued by the Environment Agency
The EA said heavy rain and thunderstorms had been forecast for the next 48-hour period and there was a possibility of “flooding to low lying land, roads and riverside gardens”.
With the ground bone-dry after weeks of drought, heavy downpours risk overwhelming the watercourses, as little of the water will be quickly absorbed.
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