The Environment Agency today warned residents there was a flood watch in force along the River Brent.

Agency experts believe the risk of the present flood watch being updated to the more serious flood warning status is low, but are monitoring river levels in the river from Hendon to Brentford.

Property flooding has not been reported, and is not currently expected, but there may be a risk of surface water flooding in some areas.

Stephen Naylor, regional flood forecasting team leader, said: “The good news is that we have had the worst of the rainfall and the rain is forecast to become lighter this afternoon.

“Our teams are carefully monitoring rainfall and river levels, but we expect flood watches in force at the moment to be given the all clear in the next couple of days.

“However, the recent rainfall, and events in the rest of the country, serve as a stark reminder to people that they can sign up to our free Floodline Warnings Direct service by calling our Floodline on 0845 988 1188, or visiting our website environment-agency.gov.uk.”