Travel agony after London 'monsoon'

Commuters who defied an astonishing "stay out of London" warning from train companies were facing more misery tonight, as the waterlogged rail and Tube network struggled to cope with the chaos caused by violent, tropical-style storms.

Almost 18 hours after the closure of mainline and London Underground stations virtually paralysed transport, major delays were still being experienced.

Jay Merritt, spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies, said the disruption caused by the overnight storms had created a "huge backlog of services".

And as the mopping-up operation got under way between further showers today, the weathermen warned that more freak summer thunderstorms are on the way.

Two-thirds of London's average rainfall for the whole of August was delivered in a mere 30 minutes. Weathermen said 30mm (1.8in) of rain fell between 5.30pm and 6pm.

A spokesman for Virgin Trains urged people not to travel into central London unless their journeys were absolutely necessary. "I have never seen anything like this in 23 years I have been working on the railways," he said.

Although Euston, Marylebone, St Pancras, Liverpool Street and King's Cross stations were reopened in time for the morning rush hour, operators were bracing themselves for further chaos.

Thameslink warned that services were still being severely disrupted, with tunnels around King's Cross still flooded this morning, preventing their trains from passing through central London.

Spokesman Martin Walter said: "It's hoped to restore normal services later in the day but this will be largely dependent on how quickly the flooding subsides."

Thameslink services southbound from Bedford to London-were running at approximate 20-minute intervals and all services were terminating at West Hampstead where passengers were advised to take the Underground.

The Brighton to London line was due to be running only two trains an hour. All trains were terminating at Blackfriars. The Luton to Sutton service was also severely restricted.

The intensity of last night's monsoon caused havoc across London, especially in the northern suburbs where nearly two inches of rain hammered down in less than an hour. Areas worst affected were Belsize Park, Kentish Town, Hampstead and Willesden Green in north London, and Wandsworth south of the river.

Emergency services were stretched to the limit - London Fire Brigade had 1,400 calls for help, mostly for flooding - in eight hours. The Brigade's Assistant Commissioner Max Hood said: "It's been one of our busiest nights for years."

There was also a fire in a four-storey block of flats on the St Martin's Estate in Upper Tulse Hill. "Local residents believe it was caused by lightning as they heard a bang before the blaze," a fire brigade spokeswoman said. "No one was hurt. Sixty people were evacuated, including 15 children. The roof was badly damaged."

Many roads, including the Blackwall Tunnel, were closed. A flood in Hendon Way caused a five-mile tailback, while a multiple pileup on the London-bound carriageway of the M4 near Newbury was also blamed on a freak downpour

A string of mainline rail stations were closed last night when the tracks flooded and signals were shorted out. Two Thameslink trains were stopped in a tunnel between King's Cross and Farringdon stations for two hours after severe flooding forced staff to turn off the power.

It caused a nightmare for home-going commuters and was made worse when many Underground stations were also shut by flooding, including Baker Street, Green Park, Kilburn and Swiss Cottage, and there were delays on almost every line. The Metropolitan, Jubilee and District lines all had services suspended for major sections of the line.

The downpours were over by mid-evening, but by then the damage had been done, producing extraordinary scenes. In Belsize Park, the combination of heavy rain and a burst water main sent a wall of water crashing into a row of basement flats.

It washed through the gardens and knocked down a wall that backed on to a railway line, adding to the widespread disruption on the railways.

" The burst main had exploded through the pavement and the water was pouring down the road," said Juliette Cockerill, 32, a photographer who lives nearby. "The water was up to my knees and was pouring into the flats. Traffic was at a standstill."