Landslide Causes Train to Derail in London!!! (Source: Mirror UK News)

DISCUSSION: Heavy rainfall led to flooding and a landslide in the United Kingdom earlier today, which brought travel disruptions to the morning commute in the capital. Local news reported that a train traveling south to London hit a landslide, then derailed and hit another train traveling in the opposite direction. Both trains remained upright during the stressful four-hour ordeal, but passengers praised the staff onboard the trains for remaining calm. During the time of the incident, heavy rain was falling across the area which forecasters believe led to the landslide and the eventual derailment. As of noon local time, officials said that both trains were emptied and that several people were brought to local hospitals for observation, but it appeared that none were severely injured and no deaths were reported as well. Several delays and cancellations were caused by this incident; however, engineers were hopeful in having the tunnel cleared for the evening rush. Train travel wasn’t the only form of transportation affected by the storm, parts of several highways and local roads had to be temporarily closed due to flooding.
 
Nearly 40mm (1.5 inches) of rain fell in about an hour in and around the London area as an impressive storm system made its way across the British Isles. London’s Heathrow Airport officially recorded 20mm (slightly less than 1 inch) of rain from the storm. Thunderstorms developed over the region late Thursday night, and then slowly trekked to the east during the early morning hours on Friday. When thunderstorms sit over the same place for an extended period of time, they become known as training thunderstorms as they continue to dump copious amounts of rainfall over the same region. Training thunderstorms often last for several hours before finally weakening or moving on. These thunderstorms formed along a powerful but slow moving cold front which has brought some much needed heat-relief along with it. Sunny skies are in the forecast for the rest of the week and into early next week with temperatures right around average for this time of year.
 
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