An emergency action plan by Southern Water to prevent homes in Albert Road from flooding failed spectacularly yesterday, leaving angry home owners devastated.

Following a day of heavy rain, the company decided to go ahead with its plan at around 5pm, saying it was a precautionary measure. It involved closing the road and providing two sandbags to each home.

However, the measures did not stop flood water seeping into a number of houses including that of Gareth Jones, whose downstairs flooring was ruined for the second time in four months.

The dad-of-two said: “We’re absolutely devastated. Our house has only been straight for a month following the September flood.

“I had faith in their action plan and I’ve been genuinely made up by the response and the community effort since the September flood but after this, the residents have been completely let down.”

Mr Jones was also dissatisfied with the efforts of the contractors who he claims showed “zero empathy” to residents when the water was rising at around 6.30pm.

He said: “There was no cohesion at all. No one knew what they were doing and they sat in their vans and watched the water rise.

"They closed the road after the flood was under way, issued sandbags after water had already entered my property and the pumping equipment that was deployed was never used; it was a disgraceful effort.”

Network performance manager Chris Perkins carried out door to door visits throughout the evening.

He told Mr Jones that during the day a team was sent to Golf Road Pumping Station to ensure all was running smoothly but by 4pm the station was overloaded, with water coming in at the same rate it was going out. This resulted in the water backing-up.

The site was also checked on Sunday ahead of the poor weather.

Residents Valerie French and Kevin Claringbold had also just had new flooring put down following the floods in September.

Ms French said: “For us the water just came up to the pavement. We were lucky this time. We’ve only just had our living room floor and kitchen relaid.”

Mr Claringbold added: “But, every time it rains now, we panic.”

Albert Road residents have suffered recurring flooding problems for years.

Since an incident in September 2015 when homeowners reached boiling point, Southern Water has issued an apology as well as pledged to improve the road’s drainage problem.

The company started by inspecting the local sewer network, installing a number of sewer level monitors to indicate when levels may be getting high, and looking into how it can further upgrade the local pumping station.

In November, Southern Water said it had approved more than £300,000 of investment which will see improvements for Albert Road residents over the coming months.

A spokesman for Southern Water said: "Yesterday we experienced significant rainfall across the South East region and as a result, we immediately deployed our emergency action plan.

"Unfortunately due to the severe weather a number of areas were affected by surface water flooding including Albert Road in Deal.

"We currently have a crew on site helping households in Albert Road and have organised for a clean-up company to attend today.

"We would like to assure our customers that we continuously review our action plans to ensure they are robust and are always looking for ways we can improve.

"The Met Office have issued more severe weather warnings this week. Our staff will continue to work 24 hours a day to monitor the situation but we urge any customers affected by flooding to call us on 0330 303 0368.

"We would like to thank our customers for their cooperation."