Heavy rain and flash flooding have battered parts of England and Wales, causing widespread travel disruption and damage to properties.

Roads and houses flooded in central and southern England after some experienced a month’s worth of rain in a matter of hours.

In London, a sinkhole appeared on AFC Wimbledon’s football pitch and 999 call handlers took 350 flood-related calls, while in Bedford a main road was totally submerged.

A Met Office amber weather warning in parts of central and southern England ended at 21:00 BST, but a yellow warning remains in place across England and south-east Wales.

The yellow weather warning for heavy rain – which means some disruption like floods, travel disruption and power cuts is possible – is due to remain until 23:59. Only the far south-west and parts of northern England are not covered.

The Environment Agency has issued more than 20 flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, and more than 80 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible.

Areas affected by the flood warnings include Leighton Buzzard and Luton in Bedfordshire and parts of London.

Among the most dramatic floods was on the A421 main road between Bedford and Milton Keynes, which has been shut – along with the rail line from from Bedford to Bletchley.

In the village of Grendon, in Northamptonshire, several houses were flooded with clean-up efforts ongoing.

“It was unbelievable,” Jon Sayle said, describing how about “two feet of water” had “seeped in overnight” into his home.

In the village of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, local residents joined forces to save animals stranded by heavy flooding at a local farm.

Joanna Johnson, 54, said 50 neighbours had turned up at Moreteyne’s Retreat after she sent an emergency message on social media. “The villagers flocked here so fast,” she told PA News agency.

She said her miniature ponies had had to swim out of the floodwater, while the sheep had been dragged through to safety in chest-high floodwater.

Ms Johnson described the water coming off the nearby A421 as being “like a river”, which led to the entire farm being flooded within 15 minutes.

“The animals are alive at the moment, I’m now desperately trying to find a piece of land I can leave them on over the winter where they will be safe.”

Another resident told PA he had never seen anything like it in a decade living there, adding floods on the road were “normally gone within a few hours”.

Lee Elliott, 36, said: “I was out last night helping push cars out of the floods because we came home quite late last night and saw the cars stuck in there, so we went down there to help them.”

On Monday afternoon the London Fire Brigade said its 999 control officers had taken some 350 flood-related calls, with firefighters rescuing people trapped inside cars, assisting people from their homes and responding to flooding in Underground stations and roads.

In a post on X, using a photo of a car stranded in floodwater overnight in Wallington, Sutton, the fire brigade warned that “a foot of moving water at just 6mph is enough to float a car“.

Transport for London has warned passengers that the District, Circle, Metropolitan, Piccadilly, Bakerloo and Central lines have been either partly suspended or subject to minor to severe delays because of flooding caused by heavy rain.

National Rail is also reporting widespread disruption and cancellations to some train services throughout the day and has urged passengers to check their journeys.

In south-east England, a night of heavy rain forced the closure of an M25 slip road at Cobham in Surrey and led to delays on train services.

A number of schools in areas including Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire have been forced to close, with some switching to remote learning, and a number of homes and businesses have been flooded.

Aerial photos show that a sinkhole has appeared at the Cherry Red Records Stadium – home of AFC Wimbledon – and a walkway next to it has been flooded.

The football club confirmed that Tuesday’s third-round fixture against Newcastle United for the Carabao Cup had been postponed, citing overnight flooding of the River Wandle and surrounding areas.

It said the club’s stadium would be closed until further notice, and a rescheduled date for the match has yet to be confirmed.

A slow-moving area of low pressure has sat across the south of the UK since late on Friday, bringing multiple rounds of wet weather to parts of England and Wales.

On Sunday, thunderstorms were reported around Luton, Dunstable and Woburn in Bedfordshire, and this led to some places getting their September average rainfall in just an hour or two.

The worst of the weather was expected to be over by Monday evening. Rain will slowly start to drift eastwards – easing as it does so – with the last dregs to clear south-east England into Tuesday morning.

Looking ahead, areas where the ground has become saturated over the last few days may still need to monitor the forecast for Wednesday.

Another longer spell of rain will cross England and Wales during the day on Wednesday, but as that clears, chillier air from the Arctic will move south across most of the UK for the end of the week.

Daytime temperatures on Friday will peak at just 8 to 13C.

Additional reporting by Emma Harrison