Hundreds of flood warnings in place and rail disruption set to continue in wake of Storm Henk

Serious disruption to travel is being forecast for Wednesday, with hundreds of flood warnings in place after Storm Henk battered parts of the UK.

Large parts of England and Wales saw strong winds and heavy rain, leading to flooding, travel disruption and power outage.

The strongest gust of wind recorded on land was 81mph at Exeter Airport in Devon.

More than 300 flood warnings were in place in England early on Wednesday.

A severe flood warning, meaning there is a danger to life, has been issued for Billing Aquadrome, a leisure park in Northampton, and surrounding business units. Local media reported that hundreds were were told to evacuate amid rising water levels from the River Nene.

The flood alert, issued by the government, warned the situation poses a danger to life, and that the water may be “deep and fast flowing”.

Another severe flood warning is in place for the River Ritec in Tenby, south western Wales, with 15 other flood warnings in place throughout the rest of the country, as of early on Wednesday morning.

Residents of the Kiln Park caravan site near to Tenby have been told access to their vehicles may be limited, and there have been reports of raw sewage escaping into the water.

Flooding and power failures hit the UK’s rail network on Tuesday, with the impact expected to cause disruption into Wednesday morning.

Southern, Gatwick Express, Great Northern and Thameslink services are expected to face disruption until 10:00 GMT.

Routes in South West England, South Wales, North West and East Anglia are also expected to face some disruption.

After hitting England and Wales of Tuesday, Storm Henk had mostly moved towards parts of Scandinavia by Wednesday morning.

The poor weather downed trees and caused treacherous conditions. In Orpington, south-east London, a woman was taken to hospital after being struck by a falling tree. Her injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

The Energy Networks Association (ENA), which collates data from all energy providers, estimated that 38,000 customers were without power as of 19:00 GMT on Tuesday due to damage from the storm.

ENA spokesperson Ross Easton added that power had been restored to around 102,600 customers on Tuesday.

In Greenwich, southeast London, the storm also brought down a scaffolding panel from a building, blocking a road.

Henk is now the eighth named storm in only three months but this spell of wet and windy weather looks as if it could come to an end later this week as more settled – but chillier – weather moves in.

The storm was named much later than usual – only hours before the impact was due to be felt. This was down to its small size and because it was still developing early on Tuesday morning.

Early forecasts were for gusts of around 70mph (112km/h), but some computer models were suggesting a stronger swathe of winds, while others were not – leading to uncertainty.

Meanwhile, 2023 was provisionally the second warmest year in the UK since records began, the Met Office said. The warmest year on record was 2022. Global temperatures are rising mainly because of human activity, leading to more intense heatwaves and rising sea-levels.

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