RECORD-breaking weather has seen the city face the hottest and wettest days of this year in quick succession.

Thunder and lightning storms brought the current heatwave to an abrupt end yesterday as the city was deluged by downpours which caused surface flooding.

Two schools were closed because of flooding and the emergency services faced a busy morning with motorists getting into trouble on the county’s roads.

As people sweltered during the hottest day of the year on Monday with temperatures up to 32.7C, The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for torrential rain in the region.

The hot weather was soon replaced by storms yesterday morning and Worcester recorded its highest total of rain in a day.

The sudden downpour saw 24 millimetres of rain fall in Warndon Villages overnight to 8am with a further 12 millimetres recorded in the following 45 minutes bringing the total to 36mm.

It is the first shower the city has seen since July 2 when just three millimetres of rain fell.

The rain caused disruption to Upton Snodsbury First School and Tibberton CE First School, near Droitwich, which both had to close after the buildings flooded.

Lorraine Barber, headteacher at Upton Snodsbury First School, said the school had a minor flood in the entrance and corridors as well as one classroom.

Dehumidifiers were brought in to dry the school which was due to hold a special event today.

Mrs Barber said: "We are desperately hoping to open because we have our leavers assembly."

An army of staff and parents had also been busy trying to clear up the flood waters from inside of Tibberton CE First School.

Headteacher Martyn Walley said the decision was taken to close the school at 8.30am.

"The downstairs area of the school flooded including the staff room, the reception and year one classrooms and corridors.

"We think the problem was due to a blocked drain which caused two to three inches of flooding.”

He hoped the school would reopen today and a leavers disco set to be held last night was still due to go ahead "There was a smell of burning but everything has been checked and we are fine to go ahead," he added.

As the heavens opened, surface flooding was reported in Holt Heath and Ombersley, Pershore and Bromsgrove.

A Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue service spokeswoman said: "We have been operationally busy this morning with people trapped in their car because of flood water particularly in the Bromsgrove area."

There was further disruption to travel with West Country Travel reporting a lightning striking between Cheltenham Spa and Worcester which caused power to be lost to the signals.

Pershore recorded the highest rainfall in the country as about a fortnight's rain fell in some places overnight.

In just three hours, the town had 56mm of rain - six millimetres more than its average for the whole of July.

Evesham Gold Course, Fladbury Cross, was forced to close after an inch-and-a-half of rain fell in just over three hours, flooding part of the green and Fairway.

The club was forced to close for three hours while the water drained away.

Jim Wilkes, head green keeper, said: “As far as most course are concerned, we deal with it quite well. We were only closed for a couple of hours.”

The weather is predicted to be cloudy today with highs of 23C. More rain is due on Thursday.