UK motorways flooded and train lines underwater after flash floods

Tracks at a train station in Shropshire were completely submerged and cars abandoned on the empty M5 in Gloucestershire after heavy rain.

Chris Parsons
·News Editor, Yahoo News UK
·2-min read
Motorway submerged and train lines underwater as flash flooding hits UK
Motorway submerged and train lines underwater as flash flooding hits UK

Commuters in parts of England faced disruption on Friday as more heavy rain and flooding overnight caused problems on roads and to rail services.

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

It comes as an amber rain warning issued by the Met Office for areas of the Midlands and the south of the country, and a separate yellow rain warning for large parts of England and Wales, both ended on Friday.

Areas affected by the amber warning, including Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and the West Midlands, were hit by flash floods as the Met Office said the regions could have 30-40mm of rainfall within three hours.

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 an earlier tree on the line.

Trains between Peterborough in the east Midlands and London King’s Cross were delayed because of flooding.

The Marston Vale line in Bedfordshire, which operates services between Bedford and Bletchley, is suspended until Monday because of standing water on the track.

Scroll through the gallery below for more UK weather images from this week.

All lines were blocked between Bicester North and Banbury in Oxfordshire, with disruption expected until 3pm.

National Highways said the M5 in Gloucestershire was 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 both ways.

Avon Fire and Rescue Service previously said they were working with National Highways South West to rescue people stranded on the M5 in Gloucestershire.

Latest stories

  • Everest climber's remains believed found after 100 years

    A documentary team discovered human remains on Mount Everest apparently belonging to a man who went missing while trying to summit the peak 100 years ago, National Geographic magazine reported Friday.Mallory's body was found in 1999 but clues about Irvine's fate were elusive until a National Geographic team discovered a boot, still clothing the remains of a foot, on the peak's Central Rongbuk Glacier. 

  • Hurricane Milton latest LIVE: At least 10 dead but Florida spared 'worst case scenario' as storm moves into Atlantic

    More than three million Florida homes and businesses without power and 1,900 flights have been cancelled

  • Joe Biden Rips MTG for Her ‘Stupid’ Hurricane Milton Conspiracy Theory

    President Joe Biden on Wednesday shot down hurricane misinformation being peddled by the far-right likes of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), saying her “stupid” claims could endanger lives and cause political division in a time of crisis.“It’s so stupid. It’s got to stop, moments like this, there are no red or blue states,” Biden said. The president was participating in a virtual briefing about Hurricane Milton, a major storm expected to rake Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday night, just two

  • Abandoned dog left tied to fence on side of I-75 hours before Hurricane Milton hits

    ‘Please don’t do this to your pets,’ police said after finding the dog

  • Anderson Cooper Struck by Flying Debris from Hurricane Milton During Live News Report: 'That Wasn't Good'

    Hurricane Milton hit Florida on Wednesday, Oct. 9 with heavy rain and strong winds

  • Hurricane Milton leaves at least 16 dead in Florida as millions left without power in storm’s aftermath: Live updates

    Wind and storm surge warnings for Milton have been discontinued but hazards in the hurricane’s aftermath remain

  • Chaos as Hurricane Milton Makes Landfall in Florida as Category 3 Storm

    Parts of the roof of Tropicana Field, the stadium where the Tampa Bay Rays play, were ripped to shreds after enduring extreme winds from Hurricane Milton, videos and photos from the area showed, as the death toll mounted in the wake of the storm.Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, as a Category 3 storm, earlier Wednesday night, according to the National Hurricane Center. It weakened to a Category 1 early Thursday morning and was located 40 miles south-southwest of Orlando, a

  • Milton is the fastest Atlantic storm to go from Tropical Storm to Category 5 EVER

    Hurricane Milton doubled the requirements for rapid intensification when it grew from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm

  • Hurricane Milton leads to damaging tornadoes and storm surge hours before landfall

    AccuWeather's Ali Reid reported live from the scene of storm surge flooding in Fort Myers, showcasing the powerful impacts of Milton even before the storm had made landfall.

  • Maps and charts: Visualizing Milton’s historic impact across Florida

    Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida’s western coast on Wednesday night, making landfall as a powerful Category 3 storm. The intense hurricane spawned tornadoes, dumped rain across much of the state, left millions without power and claimed at least nine lives, including five people in St. Lucie County.

  • Cambodian fishermen turn to raising eels as Tonle Sap lake runs out of fish

    Em Phat, 53, studies his eel tanks with the intensity of a man gambling with his livelihood. For millennia, fishermen like him have relied on the bounty of the Tonle Sap in Cambodia, Southeast Asia’s largest lake and the epicenter of the world’s most productive inland fishery. Phat hopes that raising eels — a delicacy in Asian markets like China, Japan and South Korea — will provide a way forward.

  • Hurricane Milton spawned high number of destructive, deadly tornadoes

    Dozens of tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Milton caught many Floridians by surprise as they braced for heavy rain, strong winds and storm surges. Violent twisters were seen crossing highways, ripping off roofs and downing trees and power lines. When Debbie Jones felt a drop in pressure and her ears popping in the Holiday Pines neighborhood of Ft. Pierce, she knew it was a tornado.

  • Public outcry as Australian zoo euthanises healthy lioness because her male partner died

    Adelaide Zoo claims Amani was euthanised as negative impacts on her welfare ‘outweighed any benefits of keeping the lioness alive’

  • At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared

    At least 11 people died as Hurricane Milton sent tornadoes spinning across Florida, officials said Thursday as the state grappled with flooding, power outages and other woes from a milder than expected storm that many had feared would be catastrophic.The southeastern US state was able to avoid the level of catastrophic devastation that officials had feared.

  • Voices: Why I’m staying at home with my family to face Florida’s ‘storm of the century’

    We’ve been warned homes could turn into ‘coffins’ if we don’t flee Hurricane Milton. But my bit of Tampa hasn’t been ordered to evacuate, writes Stephanie Lifshin, so we’re not going anywhere…

  • Mama bear Grazer once again defeats Chunk, who killed her cub, in 2024 Fat Bear Week

    Bear 128 Grazer, whose cub was killed by her opponent 32 Chunk in July, was crowned the 2024 champion of the annual park contest.

  • "You're Missing A Really Key Piece Of This": This Tampa Resident Just Gave A Critical Explanation For Why It's So Difficult To Evacuate Before A Hurricane

    "If you're someone who saw the mayor of Tampa get on CNN and say that 'If you stay, you're going to die,' and you're confused on why anyone would ever stay in Tampa if our mayor just said we're going to die, you're missing a really key piece of this..."

  • Mama bear beats rival who killed her cub to win Fat Bear Week

    The brown bear, named 128 Grazer, also defeated her rival, Chunk, last year to win the title.

  • What officials are saying in aftermath of Hurricane Milton

    Floridians awoke Thursday morning with the worst of Hurricane Milton largely behind them but a long road to recovery still ahead. Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph, in Siesta Key, Fla., 5 miles west of Sarasota and about 70 miles south of the…

  • 'This was powerful': man who rode out Milton in mobile home

    STORY: :: This man survived two hurricanes from his mobile home in St. Petersburg, Florida:: St. Petersburg, Florida:: Jerald Gilchrist, Hurricane survivor"I’ve seen the road get flooded, but never like this. And this much damage – I mean this was powerful. When it came and hit the side of the trailers, it sounded like an aircraft carrier, I mean not a carrier, but a plane coming in, and I mean it just shook the whole building.”:: October 10, 2024:: While most of his neighbors evacuated the area, Gilchrist is one of the few left"For the few years I got left, I’d like to stay here, but you know. It gets scary and to evacuate it's more of a pain in the neck." "If it was gonna go, I was gonna go, too. So, just trying to protect it, you know. But if I had to do it again, I don’t think I would. Matter of fact, during the storm, I thought about that, you know, that I made a bad decision.”The floodwaters in Gilchrist’s mobile home park were as high as three-and-a-half feet in certain parts. The retired truck driver said he’d never seen it this bad since moving to Florida from Stamford, Connecticut 11 years ago.Residents of St. Petersburg, Florida, who decided to ride out Hurricane Milton despite dire warnings and mandatory evacuation orders emerged from their homes on Thursday morning to find their city largely intact after the powerful storm's overnight passage.In the downtown, situated alongside Tampa Bay, many streets avoided flooding, boats in the city marina fared well and damage to the city's buildings appeared limited.That is not to say the city came away completely unscathed. The hurricane's shredding winds ripped a gaping hole in the fabric roof of St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, scattered tree limbs across many streets and brought down power lines.