PARTS of Bradford city centre have been hit by a flash flood after a thunderstorm hit this afternoon.

Roads were left at least a foot under water on Hall Ings by the deluge as was the pavement outside the Well Street Broadway entrance.

Reader Honor Littlewood sent in pictures of the deep water at the bottom of Currer Street.

She said: "The entire path at the bottom of Little Germany in front of the Broadway entrance is completely flooded."

Pedestrians caught out in the open were soaked by the heavy rain which lasted five minutes and was accompanied by thunder.

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The rain continued into the evening with heavier bursts and more thunder heard but no more flash floods were reported.

The Met Office earlier issued a yellow warning for thunderstorms.

"Slow-moving heavy, thundery showers on Saturday may produce some torrential downpours which could cause disruption to travel and flooding," said forecasters.

"Heavy, and occasionally thundery showers, are expected to develop during Friday evening or night and continue through Saturday.

"Whilst many areas will miss the worst of these thundery showers, a few spots could see 15-25 mm within an hour and 30-40 mm within 3 hours.

"These heavy showers will tend to ease during Saturday evening and night."

A yellow weather warning for rain is also in place for much of the country for Friday.

The Met Office said: "A band of heavy rain, with the possibility of some very heavy bursts, will move northwards during Thursday night and Friday.

"Within this band 10-15 mm is widely expected, however some places could see as much as 30 mm in just a few hours.

"Once the rain has cleared scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop, particularly during Friday. Many places will miss these, but where they do occur 10-20 mm is possible in one hour, with perhaps 30 mm in a few hours."

Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for delivering power to Bradford district homes and businesses said it was prepared should the forecasted severe weather affect its power network.  

Andy Bilclough, Northern Powergrid’s director of field operations, said: "We’re monitoring the weather very closely and have already taken action to ensure that we have extra engineers ready to restore power and carry out repairs if there is any damage to our network as a result of the weather conditions.

"Our local 24-hour contact centre is also ready with additional advisors – who can be reached by calling the free 105 power cut number - as well as teams who will be ready to offer our customers support. 

“Our website, northernpowergrid.com, has an easy-to-use power cut map and reporting service which our customers can use to report a power cut and get updates about what we’re doing to get their lights back on.

“We’re encouraging customers to take a few minutes to add 105 and bookmark our website on their mobile phones so they are ready to use our services if they need to.  They may also want to watch our short and informative videos, which will help them know exactly what to do if they do have a power cut.”

Northern Powergrid’s 24/7 Twitter (@northpowergrid) and Facebook pages will also provide regular updates and advice to customers and local communities.