Now the storms blow in

Ferocious storms across parts of London and the South-East today brought the Mediterranean-style heatwave to an abrupt end.

Massive downpours lashed areas of Kent, Essex and south of the capital, raising fears of localised flooding.

Forecasters predicted that the thunderstorms would peak during the late afternoon and early evening, when the heat would be at its most oppressive.

But they said the storms were unlikely to be as fierce as in south-western France, where at least four people died and about 60 were seriously injured as winds last night reached 100mph in coastal resorts.

The rain hit the South-East mid-morning and was expected to extend to the capital in a "hit and miss" fashion throughout the day and night.

PA WeatherCentre spokesman Michael Dukes said: "The storms are usually at their worst when it is hottest. They are a combination of ones exported from France

and homegrown ones. In the next 24 hours there will be sharp bursts of rain and heavy downpours in the South-East. Some areas are at risk of localised flooding."

At 11.30am, temperatures had reached 24C (75F) in London. They were expected to soar to nearly 30C (86F) by late afternoon, in humid and muggy conditions.

The storms followed yesterday's amazing temperatures, which last night caused hundreds of thousands of Tube, bus and rail passengers to suffer commuter meltdown on their journeys home.

Transport operators described the evening as one of the most unpleasant on record in the South.

On the buses, temperatures soared to 108F (42C). On mainline railways, track temperatures reached a record of almost 124F (51C), causing chaos as trains slowed down amid fears that the lines would buckle.

Temperatures on the Tube remained in the nineties after a day in which the Evening Standard had revealed that morning commuters had to endure more than 98F (37C). Evening Standard took its heatometer on to the buses and found stifling conditions.

Sweat-drenched passengers on the No27 from Kensington to Turnham Green fanned themselves with newspapers in 108F heat, and conditions were little better on a No52 between Notting Hill to Ladbroke Grove, where the temperature reached 99F (37.2C).

The readings were taken on modern low-floor double deckers, which have replaced old-style conductor buses. The windows of the No27 were open and the driver insisted fans were on full blast.

Shop assistant Nicky Simpson, 20, was desperately fanning her two-year-old daughter Mya, who had collapsed on her lap as they travelled towards Chiswick.

She said: "This is unbearable. The windows are open but they don't make any difference. It's worse when it is stuck in traffic. The air is stagnant.Surely it wouldn't be that difficult to install air conditioning."

On the Tube, a second set of readings showed Victoria line commuting putting up with 90F (32C) early last night. Tax accountant Brian Willis, 36, had to brave 90.2F standing. "It really annoys me," he said, as he sweated between Oxford Circus and King's Cross. "We pay some of the highest fares in Europe."

When those Tube and bus passengers arrived at mainline rail stations to continue their journeys home, they faced further problems.

More than 200,000 were delayed due to a combination of a 60mph speed limit imposed from 3pm across the South and South-East, signal faults, defective track and a road vehicle crashing into a rail bridge which caused lines to close.