Heavy rain and strong winds affect Northern Ireland travel

Heavy rain and strong winds affected travel across Northern Ireland on Tuesday morning.

A yellow severe weather warning for rain in counties Down and Antrim was in place until 11:00 GMT.

There were also strong winds with gusts of 40-60 mph along the north coast on Tuesday morning.

Police advised motorists to reduce their speed and take care as surface water affected a number of roads.

Traffic and travel updates can be found on the BBC NI Travel Twitter page.

The River Bann in Coleraine, County Londonderry, overflowed its banks leaving some nearby areas, including the Strand Road, partially underwater.

Flooding was also reported on the road out of Coleraine towards Londonderry, on the A2 Bangor Road between Larch Hill and the Cultra Station Road, while the Hillhall Road in Lisburn was described as "bumper to bumper" at one stage.

It was a night of wild weather.

We've seen sustained strong winds, with 40-60 mile an hour gusts recorded around the coast.

The strongest recorded gusts have been 62.6mph at Malin Head (03:00 GMT) and 62.1 at Orlock Head (07:00).

Through the morning there have been lightning strikes along the Bann Valley.

The yellow severe weather warning for rain across Antrim and Down expires at 11:00 GMT and several weather stations have recorded 3 or 4mm of rain each hour through the overnight period.

Both the M1 and M2 were also affected, as were a number of roads in Belfast.

Translink said there were "lots of delays" to Metro services due to the weather.

The Rathlin to Ballycastle ferry has also been affected. There will be one sailing leaving Rathlin at 14:00 GMT and one leaving Ballycastle at 15:00 GMT.

All other sailings have been cancelled.

Heavy showers and strong winds are likely to continue into the afternoon, though not as severe as earlier.