Storm Babet set to bing 'extremely heavy' rain to Yorkshire including York Hull, Bradford, Halifax, Leeds, Sheffield, Wakefield and Huddersfield

The second named storm of the season will last from Wednesday to Saturday, the Met Office said, and is expected cause flooding, power cuts and travel disruption.

Yellow severe weather warnings have been issued across the four days for a vast swathe of the UK, covering much of Scotland, eastern Northern Ireland, the northeast of England, Yorkshire, the East Midlands and East Anglia.

As much as 150 to 200mm of rain is expected to fall on central and eastern areas of Scotland and there is a possibility of 70mph gale-force winds affecting northern parts of the UK, forecasters warned.

Parts of England can expect more than 100mm of rainfall during the week with some isolated areas facing up to 150mm.

Stephen Dixon, a Met Office spokesman, said: "A disruptive period of weather is on the way. There's some high totals (of rain) which has the potential to disrupt travel plans... possibility of power cuts as well as the obvious risk of flooding.

"As you look at Wednesday, the first pulse of rain is looking to particularly influence Northern Ireland, Wales and the southwest of England, and into Thursday.

"But it's as you move from Thursday and into the week that shift very much focuses more towards central and eastern Scotland, but also some central and eastern areas of England as well."

He added further weather warnings are likely to be announced by the Met Office in the coming days.