Firefighters in Dover were called to pump out properties in the town's Tower Hamlets area, East Street and Maison Dieu Road on Saturday night.

Householders in East Street were still trying to clean up on Sunday, Kent Fire Brigade said.

Station officer Simon Smith said basement flats in converted Victorian buildings and the cellar bar of the Louis Armstrong pub were among the worst affected.

He said: "The water had flooded in the East Street and West Street area to a depth of a couple of metres.

"It was most amazing because that part of Dover is quite high and it was simply the storm drains couldn't cope.

"When I pulled up, members of the public were out in the street and cars were floating round backwards and forwards on what appeared to be a large lake - it was a completely surreal scene."