Met Office warns of ‘real risk of flooding’ with Storm Christoph set to bring up to 200mm of rain to North Wales

The Met Office has warned there’s a “real risk of flooding” as the newly named Storm Christoph is set to hit the UK.

Up to 200mm of rain could possibly fall across parts of North Wales as several days of persistent rain hit the region.

A yellow weather warning is in place covering Flintshire and neighbouring parts of North Wales and  England from midnight tonight until 12pm on Thursday.

The national weather service said the heaviest downpours in the yellow warning area are likely to be across Wales, with a more severe amber warning in place for parts of England.

By early Thursday, between 30-60mm of rain is expected to have fallen widely across the yellow area, with 100-150 mm over the high ground of Wales, and even up to 20mm is possible across some parts of the north of the country.

Chief Meteorologist Dan Suri, said: “Following a cold spell where the main hazard was snow, our focus now turns to notably heavy rain moving across the UK this week.

“Some locations could see over 100mm of rain falling through the course just a couple of days with up to 200mm possible over higher ground.

“These amounts of rainfall along with snow melt present a real threat of flooding and people should keep a close eye on flood warnings from the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales.

“As the system moves away into the North Sea Wednesday night and Thursday morning there will be strong winds along the east coast for a time.

“Meanwhile, colder air coming southwards into the weather system brings the risk of further snow on the back edge of this system.

“Temperatures will gradually fall across the UK through the end of the week and into the weekend bringing a return to widespread overnight frosts.”

⚠️ ⚠️ Storm Christoph has been named, with heavy rain and flooding likely on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday ⚠️ ⚠️#StormChristoph#WeatherAware pic.twitter.com/LHKYniBkfi

— Met Office (@metoffice) January 18, 2021