Storm Barbara bringing wind and rain to West

THE Westcountry was waking up to heavy rain this morning after the Met Office issued a yellow weather warning in advance of the arrival of Storm Barbara from Spain.

The warning is in place from 3am today until 2pm this afternoon, with a risk of flooding in some areas. Forecasters say that heavy rain is likely.

And while much of the UK will be spared the worst of the storm, which is causing chaos in parts of mainland Europe, eastern and central England as well as Devon are in the firing line. “Heavy rain is likely to lead to some disruption to travel,” the Met Office has warned, with conditions set to be very windy in the far west.

Bus and train services could be affected with journey times taking longer, while spray and some flooding on roads will make driving more hazardous and the flooding of some homes is possible.

Cornwall had an early taste of the storm yesterday afternoon with waves of up to 14ft battering parts of the coast.

Flooding was reported in some places including Portmellon, near Mevagissey, after flood warnings for much of the coast of Cornwall were issued by the Environment Agency.

Strong winds combined with high tides were to blame, with sea defences over-topped in several places late on Monday night and early yesterday.

The Environment Agency said: “High Spring tides, strong winds and large waves are expected to cause property flooding in low lying or exposed locations.

In Cornwall locations particularly at risk include Mousehole, Newlyn, Penzance Promenade, Chyandour, Long Rock and Porthleven, Mevagissey, Portmellon, Gorran Haven and St Mawes.

Surfers and beach walkers were warned to take care as waves as high 14ft were forecast.

However it will be rain that causes most of the problems today, according to the Exeterbased forecaster.

The Met Office’s hour-by-hour forecasts show heavy rain arriving across Cornwall – from Land’s End to Looe – from 7am this morning, with no let-up until lunchtime.

A spokesman for the Met Office said: “This week will see a change from the mostly dry, cloudy, chilly weather to increasing wind and rain for many and an upturn in temperatures, particularly in the south early in the week.

“Storm Barbara, named by the Spanish, will bring strong winds and heavy rain to parts of Portugal and Spain on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Across the UK Storm Barbara will probably not cause major impacts, but will bring some rain, which could be heavy, to the south east and possibly central England on Wednesday.

“However, the development of this storm system is still relatively uncertain and therefore, although not currently expected, there is still the potential for severe gales to affect the extreme south-east of England during this period. Therefore, we are carefully monitoring the storm’s development.”

The forecaster has since issued a ‘Yellow’ weather warning for most of the rest of southern England, including much of Devon.