A FLOOD alert has been issued for the Barbourne Brook in Worcester.

The Environment Agency issued the alert just after 4pm this afternoon, warning people living in the area flooding is possible and they should take action to prevent damage to their homes.

A message on the organisation’s website said a gauge in Perdiswell had been recorded at 0.98 metres at 3.30pm today and was likely to rise due to heavy rain forecast from 6pm this evening until midnight.

A flood alert is the lowest of the three warnings issued by the organisation and follows a forecast by the Met Office of heavy rain from 6pm this evening until midnight.

Ian Michaelwaite from Pershore-based Netweather.tv said this afternoon bad weather was due to start at about 6pm this evening.

“There’s an incoming band of quite heavy rain and there will be a sudden increase in rainfall and winds at about 6pm,” he said.

“It’s generally looking very nasty in terms of all the wet and windy weather out there.

“The unlucky areas could have up to 40mm and higher areas could see up to 60mm which will obviously rush downhill so could cause some surface water.”

Similar warnings have also been issued for other nearby rivers such as the River Stour, the Rivers Wye and Frome in Herefordshire and the River Teme.

Although the Met Office is forecasting only a little amount of rain on Thursday and Friday, Saturday is likely to be much wetter with a mix of heavy and light rain throughout the day.

Residents concerned their homes may be at risk can call the Environment Agency’s Floodline on 0845 988 1188 and select option 1 for more information.