North East storm warning downgraded as worst of weather recedes

The Met Office had a storm warning in place for the entire east coast, from the north of Scotland to East Anglia, until 9pm.

But it has now lifted the warning for much of the country, though it remains in place for Scotland and North Northumberland.

Heavy rain brought flash flooding across the region today, Thursday, July 11, with Sunderland particularly hard hit.

St Mary’s Primary School in the city closed early due to severe flooding, the Cross Keys pub in Washington Village had to shut and Washington Wetland Centre was forced to close its grounds and is likely to have partial closures or even to remain fully closed tomorrow.

But now it seems that the worst of the deluge is over, with the Met Office scaling back the scale of its warning for the rest of the evening.

“Showers have now subsided over northern England and parts of southern Scotland and so the southern and western edges of the warning have been reduced.

“Heavy showers and thunderstorms have developed during Thursday afternoon across parts of Scotland and northern England but have now subsided over northern England and parts of southwest Scotland.

“Whilst many areas will miss the heaviest rain, heavy showers and thunderstorms over eastern and northern Scotland will be fairly slow-moving with the potential for 20-30 mm of rain in an hour and 40-50 mm in 2-3 hours.

“Showers and thunderstorms will gradually die out during Thursday evening.”