Shopping centre evacuated due to flooding as Met Office issues weekend weather warnings

The Environment Agency has 39 flood warnings in place, stretching from northeast to southwest England

A shopping centre has been evacuated due to flooding as the Met Office issues weather warnings across the UK for the weekend.

Priory Meadow Shopping Centre has been evacuated due to flooding in Hastings town centre. East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said they were assisting with the situation where social media footage showed deep floodwater had come inside through the entrance on Station Road.

“We are assisting in dealing with flooding at the Priory Meadow Shopping centre, Hastings, which has been evacuated,” the service said in a statement.

Posting on X, the service added: “If you have cars in Hastings town centre you are advised to move them due to flooding.”

Emergency services were called in to deal with the flooding in Hastings (PA)

It comes as the Met Office issued a yellow warning today for areas in London, the south of England, the Highlands and northeast of Scotland and Northern Ireland, which are set to be lashed by thundery heavy rain over the next few days.

Forecasters have warned there is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded in the south of England, along with train delays and cancelations all weekend, coming into the beginning of next week.

The worst affected regions could see 70mph gusts or up to nearly four inches of rain. The Environment Agency has 39 flood warnings in place, stretching from northeast to southwest England.

It comes after areas across Scotland and northeast England were battered with the worst of Storm Babet, which caused serious damage and several deaths when it hit last week.

In Hastings, one social media user wrote: “Priory Centre in Hastings flooded again. So sad, many businesses only just reopened after the last floods.”

“We had so much rain in Hastings last night that the town centre is under water, shops and pub basements have been flooded up to knee high or more and the emergency services are all over the place trying to pump out the water and set up sandbags for tonight’s downpour,” another X, formerly known as Twitter, user said.

Met Office forecaster Dan Stroud said: “On it’s own the rainfall totals are not that high but given the fact we’ve had all that rain from Storm Babet it doesn’t take much for there to be localised impacts because the ground is already saturated.”