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Lightning strikes: This dramatic picture shows the moment a bolt of lightning struck a building in Birmingham as fierce storms battered Britain
  • Heavy rain soaks much of the country as fierce thunderstorms hit London
  • Electrical storms also struck across the Midlands and East Anglia
  • Huge hailstones batter Leicester while lightning strikes in Birmingham
  • Flood warnings as between 25 and 40mm of rain is expected quite widely
  • Potential of gusts reaching 80mph in the extreme north west regions
Heavy rain and strong wind has battered much of Britain, with fierce thunderstorms hitting London as the Met Office issued severe weather warnings.

Shoppers were left drenched in fierce downpours across the south, while sports fans at football, rugby and horse racing meetings were hit by torrential rain.

London was struck by a fierce electrical storm in later afternoon, with lightning strikes cracking across the sky, pouring rain and hailstones pelting the city.

The thunderstorms also struck across the Midlands and into East Anglia, with winds of more than 50mph reported yesterday afternoon.

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Battering: This huge hailstone was spotted in Leicester, according to one Twitter user
Here's the size of the hail in #Walsall - Photo taken by one of our Facebook followers Barry Carpenter pic.twitter.com/sQAOENPcbA
- MeteoGroup UK (@WeatherCast_UK) January 25, 2014
Birmingham was also hit by lightning, and enormous hailstones were said to have battered buildings in Leicester.

Rail travellers and motorists also faced disruption as highways officers were called in to clear trees in Warwickshire and South West Trains services were halted after trees toppled onto the railway lines.

There were also delays on the route between London and Norwich after a tree fell onto overhead lines during a storm.

Britain faces further flooding today as another band of heavy rain sweeps the country - prompting one MP to call for the Army to be put on standby.

The saturated South West will bear the brunt, with blustery wet weather lasting several days.

Severe weather warnings were issued yesterday by the Met Office for all of the South West, and the Environment Agency said already full rivers are likely to burst their banks.

There is also potential for further river flooding across the south west and southern counties.
The risk of flooding from groundwater continues in parts of Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire, West Sussex, West Berkshire and Surrey into next week.

Low-lying areas of Somerset - where villages have been only reachable by boat for a month - will be particularly hard hit. The county is nearing breaking point, its council leader John Osman warned.

West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger said floods in his region were the worst for a century, adding: 'I have told the Prime Minister we need extra pumping capacity and we may also need help from the military.'

He spoke after local councils declared a full-scale emergency. Somerset County Council said: 'We've asked the Army to come up with solutions.'

Somerset County Council has declared a 'major incident' for all areas affected by flooding in the county.

Deputy chief executive Pat Flaherty said: 'Our priority has to be to keep people safe. We are doing everything we can to do this and we believe that declaring a major incident shows just how urgent the situation is for many of our residents and communities.

'The reason we are taking this action is the long-term nature of the issues we are facing and to enable a consistent approach to the way that we deal with them.'

The county council will continue its help and support for people affected by flooding which includes a boat service for the cut-off community of Muchelney and Thorney, providing a pontoon bridge at Langport, supporting farmers providing a vital tractor service to communities, keeping roads open and evacuating residents when necessary.

Sedgemoor District Council has also declared a 'major incident' on the Somerset Levels.

Many communities are still coming to terms with the flooding that hit Somerset at the beginning of January and now face further problems.

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London was hit by a deluge of rain, as ominous black storm clouds filled the skies
Lightening storm passing over London just now. Lighning bolt lighting the sky above the Shard. pic.twitter.com/Cyf5xUVQ9j
- Simon Lamrock (@SimonLamrock) January 25, 2014
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Torrential: The thunderstorms struck across the Midlands and into East Anglia, with winds of more than 50mph reported
The Environment Agency has issued ten flood warnings across the South of England. Parts of Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire, West Sussex, Berkshire and Surrey are also at risk.

A spokesman said: 'With the ground already saturated, rivers and groundwater levels remain very responsive to rainfall, particularly on the Somerset Levels.

'Environment Agency teams continue to operate up to 62 pumps 24 hours a day to drain an estimated 65 million cubic metres of floodwater off an area of the Levels spanning 65 square kilometres.'

The Met Office said: 'There is potential to see nearly an inch of rain across the South West on Sunday.'

The Met Office issued an amber warning of severe weather for the south west, from 6am to 2pm today saying: 'More heavy rain will spread east across the area on Sunday. Given the current disruption on the Somerset Levels, the public should be prepared for further flooding.

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Lightning strikes above Birmingham New Road in the Black Country
The chief forecaster said that rain across the UK would be accompanied by strong winds with gusts of up to 80mph, and rainfall accumulations of 10 to 20mm were expected.

The Environment Agency has eight flood warnings in place for the south west, which mean flooding is expected and immediate action is required.

A deep depression building across the Atlantic will sweep over the north west and will lead to gusts of wind battering the north west of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Northern Isles, they said.

Yesterday morning, mist descended over large parts of the country, with large swathes of the countryside shrouded in light fog.

Forecaster Kirk Waite said: 'We've got a deep low pressure developing in the Atlantic that will swing past the north west of the country and it will bring strong winds.

'For much of the country this will reach at 40-50mph gusts in the far west and also the north west, this could be more towards 50-60mph.'

Mr Waite said the yellow warning in Northern Ireland, the west of Scotland and the Northern Isles would last from midday today to 9am on Monday.

'There is a potential for gusts reaching 80mph - but that's for the extreme regions,' he said.

'Overnight showers will die away. Should be quite breezy, but quite clear. The temperature will fall.'

He added that today the cloud would build, and a band of rain will sweep in at 6am into western parts of the country.

He said: 'This will move quite quickly but it is expected to have cleared by 3pm.

'There is a yellow warning where we're expecting 15-25mm of rain quite widely.

'There is a risk that some areas may see a little more of that.

'Behind this band of rain there will be wintry showers in the north and over high ground.'

The extreme weather warning followed a thick blanket of dense fog that descened over much of Britain at the start of the week.