TORRENTIAL rain and storms caused chaos across Worcestershire, forcing a supermarket to close and causing disruption to trains.

Tesco in St Peter's, Worcester, was forced to close its doors at about 3.30pm following today's downpour.

Pipes in the store's ceiling struggled to cope with the huge volumes of water.

The supermarket was also forced to shut yesterday at about 5.30pm when water gushed through the roof into the checkout area.

A spokesman said: "This is nothing to do with the structural integrity of the roof, the pipes are just being overloaded by the amount of rain. We apologise to all our customers for any inconvenience this causes."

He said the store should be open for business as usual tomorrow.

Meanwhile an open air play had to be moved inside to prevent it becoming a washout.

Organisers of Worcester Live's performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Commandery said the play had had to be moved indoors because of the treacherous weather but said no shows were being cancelled.

The show was being staged in the newly re-opened garden and runs until Saturday, June 23.

A spokesman said: "Thursday night's performance was moved inside because of the weather and will continue to be staged indoors until the weather picks up."

A spokesman for Central Trains said there were delays to services out of Worcester towards Birmingham because of widespread flooding but the worst affected areas were mainly north of Worcester.

The delays happened after 4am today and normal service between Worcester and Birmingham was resumed at about 3pm.

He added: "Trains were running as normal but the Worcester area got off fairly lightly. It was pretty chaotic in the morning. We're a little worried because more rain is forecast for the whole of the West Midlands but we are not anticipating delays. The worst affected area was Langley Green between Worcester and Birmingham."

Firefighters handled 14 storm related incidents in a six hour period, from 3.30pm yesterday, the majority of which were in Kidderminster.

Alec Mackie, of the Hereford and Worcester fire and rescue services, said: "It was quite severe for a while."

Lightening struck a house in the town and caused a power surge through circuits, which blowing fuses.

Meanwhile tarmac and manhole covers in Linnet Rise were lifted by the force of the water and properties in Teme Avenue experienced flooding.

A disabled man had to be rescued when his car got stuck in water in Hoo Road and lightening struck Kidderminster Fire Station in Castle Road, damaging the mobilising system.

Fortunately a back up system was used to ensure calls were attended as usual.

There were no severe flood warnings, flood warnings or flood watch zones on the Severn.

There was one flood warning zone along the Avon between Stratford and upstream of Rugby.