Homes evacuated after overnight flooding

People in West Sussex have been forced to leave their homes overnight following heavy rainfall and a technical fault at a water pumping station.

Some residents of Littlehampton had to leave their properties, after basements flooded with sewage.

Rainfall gauges across Sussex have recorded 30mm of rain in the last 24 hours, with most falling on Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

Southern Water apologised, saying: "We experienced a technical failure at our Foreshore Water Pumping Station. This and the heavy rainfall resulted in customers being impacted by internal flooding at St Catherine's Road and South Terrace, Littlehampton."

Iwona Zarzycka, a resident of South Terrace, says she will have to consider selling her flat as this is the third time it has flooded in the last two years.

The first-time buyer told BBC Radio Sussex: "I was alerted by a neighbour that the whole street was flooded and the water was up to my knees.

"The manhole in front of my house burst for the third time," she said.

"I don't know what to do.

"The whole floor is wet, the sewage water came from my basement into my flat. It is so distressing."

Kieran Hayes-Farmer said the basement of his building also flooded and it had quite an impact on his neighbours.

He said: "The road was completely blocked off.

"We [were] waiting for the fire brigade to clear it, which happened about 2am.

"We have sandbags and flood barriers ready in several places."

Local business owner Lucy Brooks added: "This isn't the first time something has happened at the pumping station.

"My dad, who was also affected, helped neighbours put sandbags out.

"It is absolutely horrendous for people in basement flats."

A spokesperson for West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service said: "We were called at 19:20 GMT on Wednesday night to reports of flooding in South Terrace, Littlehampton, and sent three fire engines.

"Upon arrival crews were met with rising water levels in the surrounding area and quickly identified that several basement properties were under threat of flooding," they said.

"Firefighters pumped floodwater from the affected properties."

Elsewhere in West Sussex, the A29 has been closed between Lidsey and Shripney, near Bognor Regis.

The road was also closed for much of last week because of flood water not draining away.

The leader of Arun District Council, Martin Lury, said: "One of the problems is we live on flood plains.

"The more we develop in those areas, the more this will happen.

"With the housing targets, this is putting big pressure on the infrastructure."

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