Eurostar has cancelled all its Saturday services for the rest of the day due to flooded tunnels in southeastern England.

“Flooding in the tunnels between St Pancras International and Ebbsfleet has not improved and train services are unable to operate. Eurostar has therefore had to take the unfortunate decision to cancel all services for the rest of the day,” the company said in a statement.

Thousands of passengers have been stranded on what was expected to be one of the busiest travel days of the year.

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Services departing from London St Pancras, Paris Gare du Nord and Brussels Midi are affected.

The cause of the cancellations is flooding – a tunnel near Ebbsfleet International station in Kent was inundated as the Met Office issued weather warnings for rain, snow and ice across large swathes of the UK.

Domestic rail services in southern England are also affected.

“Flooding between Ebbsfleet International and London St Pancras International means that all lines are blocked. Trains running between these stations may be cancelled,” the train operator Southeastern said on its website.

“Disruption is expected until the end of the day.”

It is not clear whether Sunday services will be affected.

Southeastern said flooding had affected both railway tunnels near Ebbsfleet, meaning both tunnels are closed.

“This means no trains can run between London St Pancras International and Ebbsfleet International,” Southeastern added.

Because the issue is with rail track close to London, Channel Tunnel Le Shuttle services are unaffected.

The major travel disruption comes just a week after dozens of Eurostar services were cancelled due to a strike by workers in the Channel Tunnel.

The brief strike on Thursday, December 21st, saw around a dozen Eurostar services cancelled and thousands of passengers suffered disrupted Christmas journeys.

Eurostar train services resumed on December 22nd after an agreement was reached.