Thunder and lightning over London left people ‘worried the world was ending’

Last night’s storm was a wild one (Picture: George Cracknell Wright; Jack Dredd/Shutterstock)

If you were kept awake by pounding thunderclaps and windows lit up with lightning last night, you weren’t alone.

A massive storm struck above London and the south east in the early hours of this morning, and it was a rager.

Despite the unsocial hours, enough people were up to take dramatic photos and videos of the awe-inspiring display in a symbolic end to our lacklustre summer.

It comes after the Met Office issued a yellow warning for ‘heavy and thundery rain’ which would arrive on the south coast yesterday and move northwards overnight, affecting central and southern England and Wales.

Up to 100mm of rain was expected fall in some areas by Sunday evening.

The weather warning is continuing until 6pm this evening including in capital cities London and Cardiff, with a chance of flooding and power cuts.

It covers almost the whole of southern and central England except the tip of Cornwall, as well as most of Wales, so if you somehow slept through last night’s display, there is more to come.

The grim picture fort today’s weather (Picture: Datawrapper)

Vehicles splash through a partially flooded road in Greenwich, South East London (Picture: George Cracknell Wright)

A lightning bolt strikes east London overnight (Picture: Jack Dredd/Shutterstock)

Some gave up trying to sleep and logged onto Reddit instead, with one user writing ‘My partner slept the entire time while I thought the world might be ending’ and another saying the lightning ‘was constantly flashing, like a defective speed camera’.

It comes after heavy rain lashed southern England and Wales on Thursday and Friday.

One flood warning remains in place in Ilston, south Wales with two flood alerts also issued in the region as of Saturday morning.

The Environment Agency still had two flood alerts issued in south-west England, including in populated areas around the Lower Avon river.

Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Dan Harris said: ‘Reminiscent of this time last week, the forecast for later this weekend comes with larger uncertainties than average.

‘This is due to a more complex than usual meteorological pattern involving multiple corridors of heavy, locally thundery rain revolving around a slow-moving area of low pressure.

‘We are keeping warnings under review, and will look to issue them over the weekend as confidence increases, so please keep up to date with our latest forecasts and warnings.’

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