Britain Battered By Bank Holiday Rain

The Bank Holiday weekend has had a miserable start – with thunderstorms and torrential rain battering much of the country. Music and sports fans were among the victims of the washout as eight flood warnings and alerts were issued across England. Experts say any good weather is likely to arrive on Sunday, offering only a brief respite from a soggy final Bank Holiday weekend of 2012. Forecasters said the South had been worst hit by sudden downpours and even hailstorms. Some areas are expected to see an inch of rain in an hour - more than the average rainfall for the whole of August during the day. The Environment Agency has issued one flood warning for Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire and seven flood alerts across the Midlands, the North and the South West. Thunder and lightning have been reported across London and the South, the Midlands, Lincolnshire, Humber and Yorkshire. The football fixtures calendar was disrupted by postponements, including the Premier League clash between Sunderland and Reading, which was called off due to a waterlogged pitch at the Stadium of Light. Festival revellers at venues including Reading, Leeds and Creamfields in Cheshire donned wellies in preparation for muddy conditions. Singer Example tweeted: “The mud at Creamfields is ridiculous! Out front and backstage. Like a big, creamy, muddy field of mud and cream.” Prime Minister David Cameron could not escape the grim August Bank Holiday weather either. He was photographed on holiday with wife Samantha, sharing a bowl of mussels on a damp-looking restaurant terrace in Polzeath, north Cornwall. Temperatures are not expected to climb above 20C over the weekend – in contrast with the hottest day of the year last weekend, when temperatures reached 32.4C. Around 1.8 million Britons heading abroad for the break are having better luck, with Malaga in Spain and the Cote d'Azur in France basking in 30C heat. Travel organisation Abta said Spain and its islands were the most popular overseas destinations for Britons this weekend. An estimated 400,000 people will fly from Heathrow over the weekend, with 250,000 leaving from Gatwick, 150,000 from Manchester, 124,000 from Stansted, 68,500 from Luton and 62,500 from Birmingham. Channel Tunnel high-speed train company Eurostar will carry 60,000 departing passengers this weekend and ferry services and Eurotunnel trains will be busy. On the railways there will be some engineering work but 94% of services will run as normal, with replacement bus services reduced by 58.5% compared with last August bank holiday. Network Rail and the Association of Train Operating Companies said about 6.1 million passengers are expected to travel on mainline trains between Saturday and Monday.