Post by celticwitch on Jul 20, 2007 18:08:47 GMT
Torrential downpours drenched vast areas of Britain, leading to widespread flooding and travel chaos.
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An eerie darkness descended during the height of the monsoon-like outburst, with some areas getting as much as four to five inches of rain in one day - twice the average for the whole of July.
TV stations were paralysed as satellites went down, computers froze in offices and many towns ground to a halt, with flooding hitting a West Sussex hospital.
Southern and south west England bore the brunt of the bad weather which swept up through France.
As skies brightened over London sufficiently for play to resume in the England-India Test Match at an earlier-soaked Lord's cricket ground, the bad weather moved into the Midlands and parts of Wales.
Rail and Tube services were severely disrupted with all southern England train companies experiencing delays and cancellations.
In south west London cars had to negotiate 2ft-deep flood water and homes all over the country experienced flooding.
Among some of the worst-hit areas were Barry, South Wales, where floods trapped five people on the first floor of a building. In Gloucester, Cheltenham and the North Cotswolds, motorists were trapped in their cars.
In Dorset, drivers were stranded and sewage spilled on to the streets after floods in Bournemouth and Poole. In South London, there were bad floods in Wandsworth, Tooting and Putney.
In Berkshire, Reading and Maidenhead town centres were flooded, while the heavy downpours led to lane closures on the M4.
(Advertisement)
An eerie darkness descended during the height of the monsoon-like outburst, with some areas getting as much as four to five inches of rain in one day - twice the average for the whole of July.
TV stations were paralysed as satellites went down, computers froze in offices and many towns ground to a halt, with flooding hitting a West Sussex hospital.
Southern and south west England bore the brunt of the bad weather which swept up through France.
As skies brightened over London sufficiently for play to resume in the England-India Test Match at an earlier-soaked Lord's cricket ground, the bad weather moved into the Midlands and parts of Wales.
Rail and Tube services were severely disrupted with all southern England train companies experiencing delays and cancellations.
In south west London cars had to negotiate 2ft-deep flood water and homes all over the country experienced flooding.
Among some of the worst-hit areas were Barry, South Wales, where floods trapped five people on the first floor of a building. In Gloucester, Cheltenham and the North Cotswolds, motorists were trapped in their cars.
In Dorset, drivers were stranded and sewage spilled on to the streets after floods in Bournemouth and Poole. In South London, there were bad floods in Wandsworth, Tooting and Putney.
In Berkshire, Reading and Maidenhead town centres were flooded, while the heavy downpours led to lane closures on the M4.
