It’s now more than a month since rain fell in Brighton and Hove – but it’s now possible the dry spell could come to a dramatic end on Friday.
The Met Office has just released a yellow weather warning for thunder and lightning, starting in the afternoon and stretching into the evening.
Although the chances are still small, with most places expected to stay dry, areas hit by downpours could see 3cm of rain falling in an hour, bringing the risk of flooding, transport delays and power cuts.
The Chief Forecaster said: “High temperatures may set off some heavy showers and thunderstorms, which in some places could be slow-moving and persistent, bringing a risk of flooding.
“Should they develop, in the heaviest showers some places could see 30mm of rain in an hour, which would likely bring flooding impacts particularly should this fall on an urban area.
“There would also be a smaller chance of impacts from lightning strikes.
“As is the nature of showers, many places will miss them altogether, and it is not possible to say precisely where they will occur, but the warning area highlights the region at greatest risk.”
The warning covers London, south east ENgland and East ANglia, and starts at 2pm, ending at midnight.
I am glad to think that I let as little water as possible go down the drain.
And, as ever, this “BACK TO BASICS” COUNCIL has neglected to clean and maintain our road drains. When I worked for the late Hove Council in 1969, on the gulley flushers/suckers–the barrel-shaped lorries which sucked mud Nd sundry flotsam & jetsum from the road drains and then flushed them from its water tank so as to form a water trap in order to prevent the escape of sewer gases, there was a regular rota for every road drain in the Town–PROACTIVE asopposed to REACTIVE! When I stood for election to the City Council in Central Hove Ward in 2015, I campaigned tirelessly over the appalling stench from the drains and sewers right along Kingsway which regularly invaded homes and businesses and, earlier this year, Southern Water finally carried out sewer repairs in Victoria Terrace which took some weeks to complete. However, as this current drought drags on, the whole stretch of Victria Terrace, from the King Alfred to Courtney Gate, once again stinks like a sewe–and why?–because there is no water in the drains to provide a gas trap–that’s why!! Needless to say, I am campaigning once again, prior to, God willing, standing once more for election next may, tomake Southern Water live up to their responsibilities. What a huge help it would be if our Council were to also bring pressure to bear on the aforementioned Company–AND PERHAPS THOSE LOCAL COUNCILLORS TOO!