UK weather LIVE: Train hits tree in Kent and BA flights axed as Storm Lilian batters UK

Lillian’s influence would “wane” by Friday afternoon as it reduced in intensity and pushed off into the North Sea, with scattered showers for most of the rest of the day, PA has reported.

After the possibility of some heavy showers early on Saturday, settled conditions were likely to develop across southern and eastern England and Wales with sunny spells and dry conditions mixed with the odd chance of scattered showers.

The North and North West would continue to see “a fairly unsettled weekend”, with various fronts moving in and bringing more persistent rain, particularly for parts of western Scotland and Northern Ireland, the forecaster said.

Temperatures will reach highs of 21C on Saturday and Sunday and 23C on Monday in the South East, slightly below average for the time of year.

The Environment Agency has listed several locations around the UK where it says flooding is expected.

In addition to the below, it has listed a further 64 where it says flooding is possible.

Leeds Festival campers have been warned to secure their tents.

The event is taking place this weekend – as well as in Reading – but the nothern location will be more affected by the winds of Storm Lilian.

He said: “There could be potentially some impacts from strong winds, of 50 to 60mph in the area so it’s worth making sure your tents are secured.”

“There could also be disruption first thing to the transport networks for those travelling first thing.”

Reading and Leeds 2024 is being headlined by Blink-182, Fred Again, Liam Gallagher, Lana Del Rey, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Gerry Cinnamon.

Met Office chief meteorologist Jason Kelly has said that gusts from Storm Lilian will reach around 75mph at the peak.

Gusts of around 50-60mph will be more widely felt.

Within the warning area, around 50mm of rain is possible over high ground, with 20-30mm falling quite widely.

Adding to the previous post, Storm Lilian has now been officially named by the Met Office.

“Lilian will move northeast early on Friday morning, bringing strong winds for northern England and Wales, as well as parts of southern Scotland,” the weather agency has said.

Lilian is the 12th named storm this year in the UK, a new record.

The recent Storm Nelson was not part of the list as that was named by the Spanish Met service.

While the situation in Kent continues, felled trees are affecting services running through lines in Wales and in the Midlands.

A tree is blocking the railway between Wrexham General and Chester as well as the line between Gloucester and Bristol Parkway.

Another tree has blocked the line between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury, Crewe and Stafford and at Coleshill Parkway.

National Rail has given the latest on all of the incidents.

The M48 Severn Bridge in Gloucestershire is closed in both directions between J1 (Aust) and J2 (Chepstow), National Highways has said.

Strong winds have led to the closure of the bridge on Friday morning and road users have been told to use the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge as an alternate route.

“During windy conditions the Severn Estuary can funnel strong gusts across the bridges, which can be hazardous to traffic,” a statement read.

“The M4 Prince of Wales Bridge has barriers which reduce the effects of these gusts.

“However, the older design of the M48 Severn Bridge didn’t include these barriers, and we sometimes need to restrict access to the Severn Bridge for the safety of our road users.

“When this happens, traffic is diverted on to the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge.”

British Airways has scrapped flights to destinations such as Barcelona and Rome, reports the Metro.

Other departures to Paris, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Basel and Aberdeen have also been cancelled on Friday morning.

A spokesman told the Metro on Thursday night: “Due to restrictions imposed by Air Traffic Control at Heathrow Airport as a result of forecast adverse weather tomorrow, we’ve made some minor adjustments to our schedule.

“We’ve apologised to our customers for the disruption to their travel plans and our teams are working to get them to their destinations as quickly as possible.’

Services are being delayed through London Blackfriars after a train became stuck while heading south from St Pancras.

Disruption is expected on the Thameslink and National Rail line that runs through the capital until around 8.30am.

A statement added: “A fault on a train at Farringdon means that the southbound line from St Pancras towards Blackfriars is blocked.

“Services are expected to be on the move again shortly, but are currently being delayed.”

The Met Office has introduced a yellow weather warning for rain and also for wind for Friday.

The warning for the rain is mostly set around parts of Scotland, specifically central, Tayside & Fife, Grampian, south west Scotland and Lothian Borders.

The wind warning is for those parts as well as East Midlands, North East England, North West England and Wales.

As for what this means, the Met Office states there could be: