Travel disruption in UK due to heavy rain and thunderstorm, heatwave ends

Saturday, July 28, 2018

The UK heatwave came to an end because of  overnight thunderstorms and heavy rain which further caused travel disruption. The extreme weather conditions have forced passengers to face long delays on flights, ferries and the Eurotunnel train.

There was five-hour delays on the Eurotunnel due to heat causing air conditioning related issues on the cross-Channel trains.Thunderstorms in Europe caused flight cancellations and passengers for ferries in Dover will have to wait for two-hour more.

Yellow warning has been issued by the Met office for wind and rain in south-west England and south Wales. Temporary restrictions  were allocated by the National Air Traffic Services due to the stormy weather on Friday which affaected flights from Edinburgh, Birmingham, Luton and Stansted.

The UK air traffic control service mentioned that the thunderstorms were particularly disruptive as they effectively block large swathes of airspace and  aircraft cannot fly through them.

There were long queues as passengers stayed overnight in the airport and were trying to re-book flights with airlines.The Gatwick and Luton airports tweeted of facing delays and cancellations due adverse weather conditions across Europe, and Heathrow.

The main East Coast rail line has also been affected and the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) stated that lightning strikes damaged signalling equipment in the North East.Edinburgh to London kings Cross trains were cancelled because of damaged signalling system between Morpeth and Berwick in Northumberland.

The  motorists were warned of lightning, flash flooding and large hailstones. So far there are 28 flood alerts in places likely to affect south-east England, the Midlands and the North.

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