THE Met Office has issued a severe weather warning with two days of heavy rain scheduled in Surrey and Hampshire from Tuesday.

Forecasters expect heavy, slow moving and perhaps thundery showers to develop late Tuesday morning. Some areas may miss the showers entirely while others could see two to three hours of heavy rain.

Periods of heavy rain are likely to persist for much of Wednesday.

Some transport routes may be affected by localised flooding leading to longer journey times. In addition localised flooding of homes and businesses is possible.

The heaviest of the rain should gradually become confined to the extreme southeast of the UK later in the day on Wednesday.

The Met Office chief forecaster said: "From late Tuesday morning showers are expected to develop across parts of the east and southeast of England.

"Whilst many will miss the worst of the rain, the heaviest showers could bring 25 mm in an hour to some spots with 40 mm in three hours possible.

"[On Wednesday] a slow-moving weather system affecting southeastern parts of Britain will give 20 to 40 mm of rain quite widely across the area, with perhaps as much as 60 to 80 mm in places through the whole day.

"In some places 20 to 30 mm could fall within two or three hours. At this stage there remains uncertainty in the exact location of the largest rainfall totals."