More than 180 flood warnings and alerts are in place across England this morning after days of heavy rain – forcing the closure of a motorway as drivers abandoned their cars.

The Met Office said northern and central parts of England and Wales had been hit hardest, resulting in widespread travel disruption across Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and the West Midlands.

As of this morning, the Environment Agency had 66 flood warnings in place across England, meaning flooding is expected, and 119 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible.

A new yellow weather warning for strong winds was later issued for the south west of England and Wales on Sunday.

Disruption is likely as winds strengthen from west to east during Sunday, with gusts of 50-55 mph likely in places, exceeding 60mph in the most exposed areas.

The Met Office said this would be accompanied by outbreaks of rain, heavy at times, which could lead to some surface water and spray.

An earlier yellow rain warning for large parts of England and Wales ended at 9am this morning, with a separate amber warning for areas of the Midlands and south expiring at 6am.

Meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said localised flooding would continue despite the warnings ending.

Check latest weather forecast where you are

He said: “A lot of these areas have been hit by rain in the past few weeks, which means the ground is already saturated.”

While the Met Office expects the weather to “ease up and become a bit drier”, some areas will still be dealing with the aftermath of the heavy rain.

“Rivers often take time to respond, so we’re expecting disruption to continue in central and southern parts throughout the morning. Those planning to travel on Friday should factor this into their journey times,” Mr Dewhurst said.

Commuters faced significant disruptions this morning, with heavy rain and flooding causing problems to roads and rail services.

Rail services between Shrewsbury in Shropshire and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands were cancelled, with disruption expected all morning, after severe flooding at Wellington station and a tree on the line.

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Images posted on social media showed tracks at a train station in Shropshire completely submerged and abandoned cars on an empty motorway in Gloucestershire.

Avon Fire and Rescue also said this morning that it was rescuing people stranded on the M5 in Gloucestershire, which remains closed northbound between junction 16 and junction 14 because of flooding.

The motorway had reopened southbound between J14 and J15, but hour-long delays and up to four miles of congestion were still expected in both directions.

One football club has appealed for help getting their grounds “straightened up and dried out” after heavy rainfall on Thursday evening.

Non-league team AFC Telford United in Shropshire posted photos and videos on social media of significant flooding at their pitch and gym facilities.

Councils and emergency services in Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire said several roads had to be closed but reassured residents they were working to keep people safe overnight.

Tewkesbury Borough Council, in Gloucestershire, has been handing out sandbags to residents to help protect their homes against flooding.

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The rain will ease this afternoon and is set to usher in much colder conditions on Saturday, the Met Office said.

Meanwhile, Oxford residents were subject to even stranger weather when a tornado-like feature was spotted in the sky on Thursday.

The Met Office believes it is a funnel cloud, which can become a tornado if the bottom of the structure makes contact with the ground.

Several other funnel clouds have been reported to the Met Office in various locations this week, it said.

St Mirren defender Shaun Rooney has been charged with assaulting a woman as well as a breach of the peace against a man in a Glasgow city centre takeaway.

The Scottish Premiership side announced on Thursday the 28-year-old had been suspended on a “precautionary basis” after he reported the alleged incident to his bosses.

In a statement, the Paisley club vowed to “undertake a full investigation” and said it would be making “no further comment during this process”.

On Friday, Police Scotland confirmed Rooney had been arrested and charged and is due to appear at the city’s sheriff court at a later date.

The force said: “A 28-year-old man was arrested and charged in connection with an assault on an 18-year-old woman and a breach of the peace against an 18-year-old man in takeaway premises on Queen Street, Glasgow, in the early hours of Thursday 19 September 2024.

“He was released on an undertaking to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court at a later date.

“A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.”

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Rooney began his career in the youth set-up at Dundee United and has played for a number of teams including Dunfermline Athletic, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and St Johnstone.

He returned to Scottish football this summer following a two-year contract with Fleetwood Town in Lancashire, England – where former Celtic captain Scott Brown was manager for a spell.

One of the UK’s largest water companies is considering shipping supplies from Norway to the UK.

Southern Water said the idea was a “last-resort contingency measure” in case of extreme droughts in the early 2030s.

Up to 45 million litres could be brought to the UK per day under the proposals.

The Financial Times, which first reported the potential move, said the water, from melting glaciers by fjords in the Scandinavian country, would be transported by tankers.

It comes as fears grow over the future of water services in the UK following droughts in the summer of 2022 when some areas of the country came close to running out of supplies.

The Financial Times said Southern Water was in “early-stage” talks with Extreme Drought Resilience Service, a private UK company that supplies water by sea tanker.

The firm would pay for the measure out of customers’ bills, according to the report.

Southern Water, which covers Hampshire, Kent, East and West Sussex, and the Isle of Wight, currently gets its supplies from groundwater and rare chalk streams.

However, the Environment Agency (EA) has urged the firm to reduce its reliance on such sources amid concerns over the environmental impact and fears they could make the risk of droughts worse.

‘Costly and carbon-intensive’

Water firms have come under growing criticism in recent years over sewage spills and rising bills, with households facing an average increase of 21% over the next five years.

Companies have also been urged to improve their infrastructure to help supplies. Currently around a fifth of water running through pipes is lost to leaks, according to regulator Ofwat.

And a report by the EA earlier this year found that Southern Water, along with Anglian Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water, was responsible for more than 90% of serious pollution incidents.

Following criticism over sewage discharges, Southern Water’s chief executive Lawrence Gosden blamed “too much rain” in 2023 for the problem during an interview with ITV News.

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The company said it was facing a shortfall of 166 million litres per day in Hampshire alone during future droughts.

But the firm said it was already undertaking other measures to address the problem, including by building the UK’s first new reservoir in more than three decades in Havant Thicket.

However, Greenpeace UK’s chief scientist Dr Doug Parr criticised the Norway proposal and said the firm should focus more on addressing issues domestically.

“Tankering in huge quantities of water from Norway will inevitably be a costly and carbon-intensive alternative to that of doing a better job with the water resources that are available in a rainy country like the UK,” he said.

He added: “Despite the obvious failings of planning, water companies need to start thinking of potable fresh water as a precious and finite resource, and plan to start treating it as such.”

Tim McMahon, Southern Water’s managing director for water, said: “We put less water into supply now than we did 30 years ago and measures like reducing leakage have enabled us to keep pace so far with population growth and climate change.

“As we work to take less water from our chalk streams and build new reservoirs like Havant Thicket in Hampshire, we need a range of options to help protect the environment while this infrastructure comes online.”

Mr McMahon added: “Importing water would be a last resort contingency measure that would only be used for a short period in the event of an extreme drought emergency in the early 2030s – something considerably worse than the drought of 1976.

“We’re committed to continuing to work with our regulators on developing the right solutions to meet the challenge of water scarcity, while protecting the environment.”