Storm Babet to batter UK with extremely heavy rain and high winds

Storm Babet is set to batter the UK with extremely heavy rain and high winds from Wednesday including in Lynn, Hunstanton, Swaffham, Downham and Fakenham.

The second named storm of the season will last from Wednesday to Saturday, the Met Office said, and is expected to cause flooding, power cuts and travel disruption.

Yellow severe weather warnings have been issued across the four days for a vast swathe of the UK, covering much of Scotland, eastern Northern Ireland, the northeast of England, Yorkshire, the East Midlands and East Anglia.

Stephen Dixon, a Met Office spokesman, said: “A disruptive period of weather is on the way.

“There’s some high totals (of rain) which have the potential to disrupt travel plans and the possibility of power cuts as well as the obvious risk of flooding.

“As you look at Wednesday, the first pulse of rain is looking to particularly influence Northern Ireland, Wales and the southwest of England, and into Thursday.

“But it’s as you move from Thursday and into the week that shift very much focuses more towards central and eastern Scotland, but also some central and eastern areas of England as well.”

He added that further weather warnings are likely to be announced by the Met Office in the coming days.