Bad weather causes floods

Firefighters were called out on Sunday afternoon to incidents in Bedford Row, Brighton Road, Durrington Lane, Winchester Road, Orme Road and Warren Road, Worthing, and in High Street and Glebe Road, Tarring.

Pumps were used to clear water which flooded the ground floors of three properties in Warren Road and firefighters cleared leaves from drains which had caused roads to flood.

A fire brigade spokesman said: "The heavy winds knocked down the remaining leaves off the trees and, combined with heavy rain, caused surface drains to flood. That seems to have caused the majority of the flooding."

Among the properties hit was the Assembly Hall, which was hosting Worthing Music Festival. According to festival administrator Angela Shaw, gallons of water poured through windows and staff used buckets, bowls and umbrellas to fend off the rain.

Maintenance workers climbed on to the roof and collected empty bottles which were blocking pipes and causing the deluge.

But lighting and power were unaffected and the festival went ahead on time.

Ms Shaw said: "Thankfully, we heard the water from our office in the reception room. If we hadn't been there, major damage could have been caused, and only discovered the next day when piano classes were scheduled to begin in the hall."

Ferring also experienced flooding on Sunday night and Monday morning, although it was not as severe as in previous years.

The worst hit areas were Ferring Street, around the war memorial, and Sea Lane. Motorists were able to continue driving through the village but were asked to take extra care and keep their speed down.

Ferring Parish Council vice-president Peter Evans said: "The problems were caused purely by leaves getting stuck in the drains. It wasn't a failure of the drainage as such. Once the drains were clear of leaves, the water cleared itself."

County council flood defence work is currently ongoing in the area.

Residents of Queen Street, Broadwater, were faced with a familiar problem following last week's downpour. Gary Clarke has lived in the road for 15 years and said that a huge puddle, measuring 40 yards in length, appeared at the bottom of his driveway every time there was heavy rain.

He said water ran off a green in front of his house, making it difficult for people to leave their homes. "It becomes almost a no-go area."

Mr Clarke said the problem had got progressively worse over the past seven years. "We've been to the council and the highways department about it on several occasions but they seem reluctant to do anything about it. They won't even come out and have a look."

Mr Clarke's neighbour, Sara Thompson, said: "It's been an absolute nightmare. I have phoned the highways department and they said it's got nothing to do with them."

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said they had heard of no reports of flooding in Broadwater. But West Sussex County Council said: "We are aware of the problem and, apparently, there are no kerbs or gullies there. It's aggravated by people parking on the grass. We told the residents if they felt the problem was getting worse, that there was a danger of water getting into their homes, the council would take another look at the situation."