Britons are being told to brace for travel chaos as Storm Benjamin hurtles towards the country.
It will bring heavy winds and rain with it, heightening the risk of localised flooding in some areas.
The Met Office has suggested power cuts and a loss of other services to homes and businesses are also a possibility.
Some areas could be cut off due to flooded roads.
Chief Meteorologist, Rebekah Hicks said: “Low pressure moving across the south of the UK tomorrow will bring both a spell of heavy rain and areas of strong winds.
“The rain is expected to arrive from the southwest this evening, before spreading northeast to many parts of England and Wales during Thursday, leading to difficult driving conditions and the risk of flooding in a few places. At the same time, winds are expected to pick up along southern coastal areas.
"However, it is not until Thursday morning that significantly strong north-westerly winds will first begin to affect parts of the west with gusts of 45 to 55 mph, locally 55mph around coasts expected.
“At the same time, northerly winds are expected to develop more widely across eastern areas, with gusts of 50-60 mph fairly widely and up to 70 mph near some coasts.
Heavy downpours can be expected
|MET OFFICE
The new warning, issued by the Met Office, told Britons in the following areas to prepare accordingly.
- Lincolnshire
- Cambridgeshire
- Essex
- Norfolk
- Peterborough
- Suffolk
- East Riding of Yorkshire
- Kingston upon Hull
- North East Lincolnshire
- North Lincolnshire
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The Met Office has put three weather warnings in place as Storm Benjamin is set to batter Britain | MET OFFICE Southern regions particularly are in for “big trouble” with powerful winds set to impact them most.
Benjamin will bring ‘major change’ in the weather as the potentially damaging and widespread storm follows a period of relative calm.
Jim Dale, meteorologist for British Weather Services, said: “There could be big trouble with this storm as parts of the country face heavy downpours, thunder and the risk of hail.
“Storm Benjamin has today been named by the French meteorological service and will signal a major change after the calm start to the season, with much of the country looking at a very unsettled start to the week.”
Benjamin will be just the second named storm this year, although it has taken a title from Metro France instead of ‘Bram’, the second in the UK’s autumn storm list.
Heavy rain, thunder and lightning will bring hail and plunging temperatures, forecasters warn.
Highs of 16C in parts will give way to lows below freezing and the risk of snow.