After a night of intense rain for the entire county, eight flood alarms have been issued for Kent. Yesterday morning (October 8) the Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms that covered the whole region of Kent, as torrential rains swept over the country.
The notice that covered southern England was originally supposed to be withdrawn at 10 p.m., but it was later extended until 3 a.m. today morning (October 9). Forecasters warned that certain locations might receive 20–30 mm of rain in as little as two to three hours. A large portion of the county experienced prolonged, intense rainstorms that started in the late afternoon and continued into the night.
A new round of flood warnings has been released by the Environment Agency (EA) that affect areas of Sheppey, Ashford, Maidstone, and Medway. Since the continuous rains have raised the water levels, all of these have been installed along important rivers.
Flood warnings are issued by the EA at three different levels: alerts, warnings, and severe warnings. Alerts like this one, which state that residents “need to prepare” for flooding, were issued for Kent today.
Living in the alert areas? The EA advises residents to monitor flood alerts and pack a bag with ‘essential goods’ such insurance documents and medication. The complete EA guidance is available here.
The most recent Met Office projections indicate that more rain is expected in the southeast. There was probably some scattered showers around the coast this morning, which cleared the way for further rain this afternoon. However, it is not predicted to be as heavy as yesterday’s levels.
Patchy outbreaks of rain are then likely to continue overnight, before clearing by the morning, making way for a drier and sunnier day on Thursday (October 10). This trend of fine and clear weather is anticipated to continue for the remainder of the week and over the weekend, though temperatures will see a considerable drop at this time.
Flood alert area: Scrapsgate Drain from the B2008 to the sea, through Minster and Scrapsgate and the Warden Bay Drain from Bay View to the sea, including Warden and surrounding holiday villages.
