Warning of heavy rain and gales

Rochdale could be battered by gale-force gusts and torrential downpours over the next few days, forecasters say.

The Met Office has issued warnings for a continued deluge and winds of up to 60mph for the North-West, parts of Wales and Northern Ireland.

The outlook is similar for Saturday when the warnings of bad weather extend down to South-West England.

A Met Office spokeswoman said: “It’s going to be a bit miserable with all that rain around and very cloudy.

“The wind won’t necessarily be as strong as it was last weekend, but it’s still gale-force when it’s gusting up to 60mph.”

Weather expert Tom Tobler, from MeteoGroup, said: “The rain will move south eastwards over the rest of the UK, getting lighter as it goes, but there will be more downpours on Saturday.”

The unsettled pattern will continue into next week.

Mr Tobler added: “It’s generally been very mild for this time of year because the strong winds are mostly from the South-West so they bring fairly warm air up from the South. Warm air can bring with it more moisture which gives the potential for heavy rain.”

Last weekend saw stormy weather with winds of 70mph on Saturday and gusts reaching a top speed of 100mph in outlying areas, as well as driving rain.

The gale-force storms prompted almost 5,000 calls to the Environment Agency’s helpline.

The agency has warned homeowners to be alert to the risk of flooding.

In preparation for more rain, Environment Agency workers were carrying out routine inspections of waterways, clearing drains of debris and checking flood defences.