St Albans on flood alert after Environment Agency issues warnings

Flood alerts have been issued for waterways in several St Albans villages, with up to 50mm of rain expected to fall overnight.

The Environment Agency posted warnings for the Upper River Colne in Colney Heath and London Colney and Tykes Water (Radlett Brook) in Radlett at 3.21pm today (Monday).

The agency’s website said that persistent and heavy rainfall would affect the area for the rest of the day and overnight, falling on already wet ground.

It added: “The Met Office has high confidence that 20-30mm of rain will fall quite widely, with some locations seeing as much as 50mm.

“We are issuing this flood alert in response to this forecast. The River Colne is expected to rise, resulting in flooding to lower lying land, roads and gardens next to the river.”

The agency warned that surface water flooding could also be expected in some locations.

It said that while the rain was expected to clear tomorrow morning, with isolated showers following in the afternoon, officers would continue monitoring the situation “closely in case we need to issue further alerts and warnings”.

It is the second time within a week that the agency has issued flood alerts for the waterways, and the third time within two months.