Heavy rain and high winds to continue as Storm Ingrid batters parts of the UK

Downpours and high winds are likely to continue after Storm Ingrid wreaked havoc in the South West and washed away part of a historic pier in Devon, the Met Office said.

It will be a wet weekend for many, with yellow weather warnings for heavy rain in place across parts of Northern Ireland, Scotland and south-west England and Wales.

A yellow warning is in place for an area covering Somerset, Devon and Cornwall and much of south Wales until 10pm on Saturday, while separate warnings in Northern Ireland and Scotland will run until 9am on Sunday.

Some 20-40mm of rainfall is expected across most of the South West – while some exposed locations could see up to 50mm, the forecaster said, with a risk of flooding to areas battered by rain in recent days.

Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said: “It’s been a contrasting picture depending on where you live, but if you haven’t seen rain so far this weekend, the likelihood is that you will see some tonight or through Sunday.”

He added: “Generally, it’s a bit of a mixed picture through the next few days. We’ve got a strong jet stream powering across the north Atlantic, fuelled by a big temperature contrast across north America.

“As it comes across the Atlantic, it gets stormy across the UK. So, unfortunately, the weather is looking very much unsettled right the way across the coming week.”

Mr Morgan said high winds could cause travel disruption and flooding in the week ahead, adding that Tuesday is likely to be a particularly blustery and wet day – and further rainfall warnings are likely.

“There is also a small chance we will see some disruptive snow, mainly across the higher ground of northern England and Scotland on Tuesday, and so, locally, if you are travelling highland routes, that could also be problematic with snow falling,” he said.

Storm Ingrid, as named by the Portuguese national weather service IPMA, cause chaos with powerful waves in parts of the South West on Saturday.

In the Devon coastal town of Teignmouth, part of its Victorian pier collapsed with the force of the waves.

The town’s mayor, Cate Williams, told the Press Association that Teignmouth had seen unusually high winds and strong waves which damaged benches, flower beds and paving stones near the seafront – as well as the historic pier.

Ms Williams said: “Ingrid really gave the pier a battering… it’s been quite an interesting day, everyone’s been really supportive of the town.

“It [the pier] has worked its way through previous storms and wars and all sorts of things, but it has got a bit old and the legs and structures have been beaten by Ingrid.”

“It’s really sad… it’s such a focal point of our town,” she added.

The Environment Agency has issued 13 flood warnings which remained in place across south west England at 5pm on Saturday, meaning flooding is expected, while 135 flood alerts indicated flooding is possible in many parts of the country.

Major disruption to railway services in south-west England is expected to last all day on Saturday, National Rail said, as passengers face cancellations and delays.