PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Emergency services are dealing with a large number of weather-related incidents after heavy rain caused flooding in the north east of England and Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, Scotland was also placed on flood alert.
Durham and parts of Northumberland were the worst-hit areas. Durham Police set up an incident room to deal with calls from the public and urged people not to travel unless absolutely necessary.
Northumbria Police said some minor roads had been affected by the heavy downpours, but that so far no properties had been hit. Newcastle United's friendly match against Italian side Fiorentina at St James' Park was abandoned midway through the game due to torrential rain, with the score at 0-0.
The deluge followed a warning earlier today for homeowners and motorists to be prepared as a band of rain moved northwards from the East Anglia region up to the north east and across Scotland.
The extreme rainfall alert was issued by the Flood Forecasting Centre and covered the period from 1pm today until 8am on Sunday. Experts said there was a 20% probability of rainfall amounts exceeding 50 millimetres in six hours, with the possibility of 70 millimetres in some areas.
In Northern Ireland, three properties in the Claremount Gardens area of Warrenpoint were flooded as a result of torrential rainfall and flash flooding, which affected the local wastewater pumping station.
Northern Ireland Water said staff and contractors had been on site since early today and that a clean-up operation was under way.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency said areas at risk include much of the east from Aberdeenshire to the Borders, but also Perthshire and west central Scotland.
The areas most at risk in England are: Cumbria; Darlington; Durham; Hartlepool; Middlesbrough; North Yorkshire; Northumberland; Redcar and Cleveland; Stockton-on-Tees and Tyne and Wear.