Wet weather set to stay into next week

Further downpours and strong winds forecast for England and Wales, but deluge unlikely to be enough to avert drought

Heavy rain floods the outfield at the Kia Oval in London. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Much of England and Wales will experience further downpours on Friday while strong winds of up to 60mph are set to batter parts of the UK over the weekend.

The wet weather shows no sign of letting up and is likely to continue well into next week as one of the wettest Aprils on record comes to an end.

However, the deluge is not expected to be enough to avert a droughtacross parts of the country and water companies are unlikely to lift their hosepipe bans.

Brendan Jones, forecaster at MeteoGroup, said: "The wettest areas today will be East Anglia, Wales and southern England, which can expect sharp, heavy downpours this afternoon.

"There's also likely to be some lightning and hail – the sorts of things we've got quite used to over the past week."

He said the rain was then expected to move northwards to north Wales and the north Midlands later, with the worst affected areas experiencing up to 10mm of rain.

"Tomorrow is not looking too bad but parts of England and Wales are going to get a real soaking on Sunday. Some of the wettest weather will be in southern England, with up to 40mm falling. It will then move further north with Scotland and Northern Ireland getting the rain by Sunday night."

Jones said gusts of 55-60mph were set to hit coastal areas on Sunday, but it was as yet unclear which areas would be worst affected.

He said they were especially strong for the time of year. "We would not normally see such strong winds at this time of year."

"There will potentially be another band of rain on Tuesday. The weather isn't going to get any better in the foreseeable future."

The Environment Agency said 10 flood warnings were in place in north-east England on Friday, with 38 flood alerts across the country.

The environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, told MPs on Thursday that the rain would not avert the drought and water companies were right to impose a hosepipe ban.

She said this month's deluge did not make up for the last two dry winters, but the government was well prepared for this summer's drought as ministers had "seen it coming".