Amber health alert issued as report says England is facing driest start to a year since 1976

Heat health alerts across a huge swathe of England have been upgraded to amber as the UK experiences its third heatwave in four weeks.

A yellow heat health alert – indicating people with pre-existing health conditions, and those aged over 65, could be at higher risk – had been issued for the whole of England by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

But the alerts for the West and East Midlands, the South West, South East, the East and London have now been upgraded.

It comes as a hosepipe ban comes into force in Yorkshire, with further bans for parts of Kent and Sussex on the way.

An amber alert means services such as transport could be impacted by the heat, and that there may be increased demand for power.

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The alerts are in place until 9am on Monday.

The upgrade comes after the Environment Agency said England is experiencing its driest start to a year since 1976.

Reservoir levels fell at nearly three-quarters of sites during June and are below average in all regions.

Water storage at four sites is classed as “exceptionally low”. These are Blagdon in Somerset (62%), Blithfield in Staffordshire (59%), Derwent Valley in Derbyshire (58%) and the Yorkshire Supply Group (55%).

The agency added that rainfall in almost a third of the areas it monitors was classed as below normal in June, while one region – covering Leicester and its surrounding towns – saw “notably low” rainfall for the time of year.

For England as a whole, June marked the fifth consecutive month of below average rainfall.

Read more:
What July’s weather has in store
What you need to know about the hosepipe ban

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The first hosepipe ban of the year has come into force in Yorkshire today – and more have been announced for other regions.

Yorkshire Water has put restrictions in place across the region in a bid to protect dwindling water levels.

South East Water has also announced a hosepipe ban for the parts of Kent and Sussex it supplies.

It said demand for drinking water has reached “record levels since May”, adding: “This situation has left us with no choice but to restrict the use of hose pipes and sprinklers, so we can help our reservoirs and underground water storage recover.”

“If we don’t put a hosepipe ban in place now, there’s a really high risk of customers experiencing widespread issues such as low pressure or no water,” it said.

The ban will come into force on Monday 18 July.