Storms in London saw flats set on fire in a suspected lightning strike, motorists swimming to safety, flights cancellations and chaos on the Tube and rail services.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) took more than 1,700 calls over flooding incidents - more than twice its daily average of 700.

Shortly afternoon, a suspected lightning strike caused the roof of a Wandsworth block of flats to burst into flames.

Although no-one was hurt, more than 40 firefighters and eight fire engines fought five hours to extinguish the blaze in Nantes Close.

"There was smoke coming out from the roof and I could see the firemen running up through the stairwell trying to fight the fire from the inside," a witness said.

"I definitely saw a few flames licking the roof of the building, which is a great old Victorian building about four storeys high."

The torrential downpours of yesterday morning caused 141 flights at Heathrow to be cancelled and hundreds more to be delayed.

Passengers travelling abroad on the day schools closed for the summer holidays had to stay in hotels last night or queue for tickets on rescheduled planes.

Flooding in the capital was concentrated in Sutton, Croydon, Lewisham and Wallington - all in south London.

In North Cheam, scores of cars were submerged as a river burst its banks flooding Trafalgar Avenue and Hamilton Avenue at around noon.

Council contractors Tony Gardiner, 42 and Lee Linehan, 20 were travelling down the road in their blue truck as the river banks burst.

Mr Gardiner said: "The car in front slowed down and then suddenly the water was pouring in all around us, we looked up and a five tonne red container was floating up towards us so I put on the hand brake, and we both jumped up and had to swim to safety.

"Our van is completely stuck now and we can't get to it, the electrics are completely gone."

Commuters faced nightmare journeys home as Tube services on the entire Circle, as well as part of the District, Hammersmith & City lines were suspended due to flooding.

Eleven stations were closed - including Victoria - with partial closures at four others.

Signal failures caused major delays on the Jubilee and Metropolitan lines.

Many rail services from Victoria also suffered, while a landslide in South Croydon knocked two of the four Southern trains lines from the station out of action.

Croydon's Tramlink network was brought to a complete standstill.

London Road in Norbury was covered in two feet of water, forcing passers-by to dive for cover from the waves generated by cars and motorcycles trying to drive.

In Bromley town centre, several stores were forced to close after suffering flood damage - including the ground floor Marks and Spencer.

Some Croydon town centre were also flooded. Eyewitness Kerry Hendey described the shoe shop Barratts: "Staff were running about up to their shins in water trying to get the shoes on a higher shelf."

Parts of the A3 were closed as cars became stuck in rising water.

There have been reports of cars marooned in the tunnel on the approach to Kingston Bridge, bringing the Kingston gyratory system to a standstill.

Southside shopping centre in Wandsworth and South Thames College have been evacuated.

No more rain was forecast for London today.