A student has been told by Apple Maps to replace his one-hour journey to university with a trip to France and back to avoid the heavy rain battering the UK.
After the recent heavy downpours along the south coast, the student posted a screenshot onto social media of his usual journey from the Portsmouth area, Hampshire, towards Brighton on the Iphone app.
Instead of recommending him to travel along the coastline as usual, the app suggested he take an 11-hour journey, which included a trip across the Channel and back, in order to avoid the ‘severe rain warning’.
This bizarre proposal comes after two months’ worth of rain fell in the last 48 hours across large parts of England, leading to rail lines being blocked and cars being submerged in flood water.
The student, known as Ash on X, was told to take a ferry from Portsmouth Ferry Harbour to Le Havre on Normandy’s Alabaster Coast. Once on French shores, he would have to take a one-and-a-half hour drive east to the fishing port town of Dieppe.
He would then hop back on a ferry to Newhaven, in East Sussex, and take a 30-minute drive back along the shore to the Brighton area.
Instead of recommending Ash to travel along the coastline as usual, Apple Maps suggested he take an 11-hour journey, which included a trip across the Channel and back, in order to ‘avoid the severe rain warning
This bizarre proposal comes after two months’ worth of rain fell in the last 48 hours across large parts of England (pictured: Portsmouth University freshers hit the Hampshire town last night despite the heavy rain)
The student was told to take a ferry from Portsmouth Ferry to Le Havre on Normandy’s Alabaster Coast (file image)
According to Apple Maps, this total journey time would take 11 hours and 7 mins, 10 hours and 11 minutes longer than it predicts it would take a person to drive along the A27 to reach the Sussex city from the same starting point.
Ash posted the screenshot of the Apple Maps recommendation with the caption: ‘Can’t wait to take this route to uni tomorrow.’
It has since garnered a lot of social media attention, having been viewed more than 400,000 times since it was posted to his 1,090 followers yesterday.
Many people were entertained by the post, with jokey comments in response such as ‘scenic route’ and ‘avoids the rain at least’.
Another wrote: ‘That’s a lot of effort to avoid getting wet.’
Whilst avoiding the torrential rain in England, Ash would still have had to endure downpours on the French coast if he did take this route this morning, as light rain was forecast until midday
One person used it as an opportunity to complain about the usual route on the British roads, posting: ‘Having done that awful crawl along the A27 hundreds of times, it’s probably easier!’
Ash’s nightmare journey to university comes after the Environment Agency had 32 warnings for ‘expected’ flooding and 95 alerts for ‘possible’ flooding in place for England today – including six across Greater London.
But the heavy downpours didn’t deter students in Portsmouth who hit the town for a night out – wearing plastic bags on their heads to protect themselves from the rain.
It comes after parts of Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire endured more than 100mm (4in) of rain in 48 hours – with Woburn in Bedfordshire suffering 132mm (5.2in), more than double the average rainfall for September.
The National Grid said it had seen a week’s worth of power cuts across the weekend.
National Highways said it expected the A421 in Bedfordshire to remain closed today in both directions between A6 Bedford and M1 J13 near Marston Moretaine due to severe flooding
The Met Office said further weather warnings were ‘unlikely’, but did point ahead towards a brief cold snap which is expected to arrive by the end of this week.
Parts of England hit by flash flooding are now set for some respite with much drier weather today, although maximum temperatures are expected to rise no higher than the mid-teens.
Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick said: ‘There may be odd, heavier bursts just clipping the South East as a system does slowly start to move away, but it’s a much drier day for most people.
‘There is going to be some isolated showers here and there, but they’re going to be very light, nothing like the torrential rain that we’ve seen over the last couple of days.’
River levels should start to decrease to more manageable levels elsewhere towards the end of the day as more water seeps into the ground.
Students wait in line to get into a nightclub in Portsmouth last night during the heavy rain
Portsmouth University freshers hit the Hampshire town last night despite the heavy rain
Floodwater submerges Spencer Football Club in Northampton today following heavy rain
Floodwater submerges Spencer Football Club in Northampton today following heavy rain
Today’s AFC Wimbledon and Newcastle’s Carabao Cup third-round match has been postponed after a sinkhole appeared on the saturated pitch at Cherry Red Records Stadium in London
The shift to drier conditions in southern areas will also signal a slight dip in temperatures.
‘As the system that we have had moves its way off towards the east, we start to get a bit more of a northerly flow so we’re bringing in that cooler northerly winds,’ Mr Eslick said.
‘The winds aren’t going to be strong at all, but with the direction that it is coming in, there will be a bit more of a fresher feel.’
A gradual lowering of temperatures is expected to continue through tomorrow and Thursday but it is unlikely any frost will develop with plenty of cloud around.
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