A severe weather warning indicating heavy rain is in place across the north-west of England over the coming weekend.
The yellow Met Office warning kicks in at 09:00 BST on Saturday, and continues through to 06:00 BST on Sunday.
Forecasters have warned of possible travel disruption and flooding, as well as a small chance of power cuts due to the volume of rainfall.
“Through this period, 20-40 mm of rain is expected to fall widely, with some locations perhaps seeing 60-100mm, with much of this total falling in just a few hours,” said Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Tom Crabtree.
“From mid-Saturday onwards, increasingly strong gusty winds and perhaps some thunder will also accompany the rainfall, further increasing the risk of disruption,” he added.
The band of rain is expected to remain slow-moving during Saturday morning before making erratic eastward progress, eventually clearing early on Sunday, the Met Office said.
Those areas affected by the yellow weather warning in the north west include:
- Blackburn with Darwen
- Blackpool
- Cheshire East
- Cheshire West and Chester
- Cumbria
- Greater Manchester
- Halton
- Lancashire
- Merseyside
- Warrington
The warning also covers much of Wales and the north-east of England, along with parts of Yorkshire and Humber, the West Midlands, south-west Scotland and the Lothian Borders.
Temperatures are also expected to drop significantly over the weekend.
