Both the Met Office and the Environment Agency are warning of significant flood risks as the impacts of Storm Christoph are being felt across the country.

Parts of northern, central and eastern England have been warned to prepare for the risk of significant flooding in some areas from early Tuesday morning, the Environment Agency has said.

Met Office Chief Meteorologist, Dan Suri, said the low pressure system bringing severe weather to the UK this week has been named Storm Christoph.

Over the weekend the Met Office warned that Storm Christoph would bring multiple hazards to the UK this week, initially heavy rain.

The national weather forecaster said that persistent heavy rain will lead to significant accumulations of rain which could lead to flooding in some areas.

A number of severe weather warnings have been issued, with an Amber warning for rain running from Tuesday morning to mid-day Thursday covering a large swathe of northern England and parts of the east Midlands. The rain will be heaviest on the western side of higher ground with over 100 mm of rain expected quite widely and potentially up to 200 mm possible in isolated, exposed areas.

An Amber National Severe Weather Warning for rain has been issued for parts of northern, central and eastern England. Separate Yellow warnings for rain cover Northern Ireland, Wales, southern Scotland and the rest of England.

The Amber warning area includes Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Wakefield, Lincoln, Nottingham, Leicester and Peterborough and is valid from 6am this morning through to midday on Thursday.

Within the Amber warning area rainfall accumulations could reach up to 200mm in parts of the southern Pennines and northern Peak District, 40-70mm could be seen more widely.

Dan Suri commented:

“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.”

Environment Agency warns “heavy and persistent rain ...expected to bring significant river and surface water flooding"

The Environment Agency is urging people to sign up to flood warnings and to check the latest safety advice with the onset of heavy rain in parts of England.

The Agency has been working with partners across the country to reduce the flood risk brought on by the severe weather conditions. Extensive preparations have already been made to operate flood defences, flood storage reservoirs and to put up temporary barriers to help protect communities ahead of the incoming weather.

Previous rainfall and snowmelt means catchments are already very wet, river levels remain high and further heavy rain could affect parts of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire.

As of 6am this morning there are 11 flood warnings in place in England where flooding expected and immediate action is required, with a further 115 flood alerts in place, meaning that flooding is possible. Ros Jones, mayor of Doncaster said a major incident had been declared in South Yorkshire ahead of the arrival of Storm Christoph in preparation for potential flooding.

Katharine Smith, Flood Duty Manager at the Environment Agency, said:

“Heavy and persistent rain falling on already saturated ground with snowmelt in parts of northern, central and eastern England is expected to bring significant river and surface water flooding and could cause damage to buildings in some communities.

“Flooding could continue to affect parts of central, eastern and northern England into Friday, with localised flooding of land and roads a possibility elsewhere across much of country on Wednesday and Thursday.”

“Environment Agency teams are out on the ground clearing grilles, screens and closing flood barriers. We urge people to keep away from swollen rivers and not to drive through flood water – it is often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car.”