A couple have told of the heartbreaking moment they discovered their home flooded with rain water and raw sewage.

Eric Tress and his wife Carole are staying at home as the upstairs is habitable and they can’t bear to stay away, although they are having meals at their daughter’s home in nearby Dumergue Avenue.

Carole, 63, broke down in tears as she recalled the moment the downstairs of their home, which they have lived in for more than 30 years, was left shin deep in water.

She said: “We only decorated in March. We had a new fabric sofa and carpets. The water was half way up the new suite. We’ve lost everything. Even the grandchildren’s toys. It’s really upsetting.

“There was toilet paper, raw sewage. The stench was awful.

“Our neighbour even helped knock down a wall in the back garden to let the water run away into the marshes.”

Carole said the flooding downstairs was so bad they have had to throw out their cooker, fridge, washing machine and most of the furniture, and when the repair work starts, even the skirting boards, tiles and two of the bottom stairs will have to be replaced.

When the sewage started to come in, Carole managed to save a few of their possessions by putting them in plastic bags and rushing upstairs with them.

She said the flooding has happened seven times now and three times it has come into their house.

Carole added: “It’s all gone. Everything has gone into a skip. It's devastating and heart-breaking.”

Paula Telford, who lives just a few doors away, was one of the lucky ones. As her house is slightly raised, only her back garden was flooded.

The 45-year-old mother of five said: “I rang Southern Water to tell them the drain was starting to overflow.

“Two men from Southern Water came out at 12.50am and they went to the pumping station in Rushenden to see what was going on.

“When they came back at 1.45am they said it was closed for repairs and as there was no where for it to go its backed up to us which we already knew because it happens every time.6

“The car park was swimming in faeces, condoms, sanitary towels and tampons and there was 16 inches of water in my garden.

“The ironic thing it’s not even my own sewage as my sewerage system runs the other way.”

Speaking on Monday, Paula said the area looks like a builders’ site at the moment but the teams of people who have been working to help them have been brilliant.

A Southern Water spokesman said: “We apologise to the residents of Castlemere Avenue for the inconvenience caused by this flooding.

“We recognise flooding is extremely distressing and we worked hard to make sure their needs and concerns were our highest priority.

“Our teams worked closely with the residents to clean up the area and a number of senior customer service staff attended to offer support to customers.

“Everyone whose home was affected was offered a free specialist cleaning service both inside and outside their properties which continued over the weekend.

“The area was deluged with heavy rain overnight on Thursday which caused some problems across the county. Our figures show that Kent experienced five times the average rainfall over that period which put an immense strain on our sewerage system.

“Unfortunately, the sheer volume of water overloaded the system at the pumping station in Rushenden.

“We have worked through the weekend to get the station back online and will be investigating to see what can be done to help reduce the risk of this happening again, which may include replacing the existing pumps.”

According to Ken Beal, who measures rainfall at his Eastchurch home, in the 24 hours up until 9am on Friday, he collected 14.1mm of rainwater.

Mr Beal said it is highly possible Queenborough received more rain as that part of the Island traditionally suffers greater downfalls.

Last June, he collected 20.1mm while this month he has already measured 22mm with still two weeks to go.

The 80-year-old, of Barnland Farm, Warden Road, has been collecting rainfall statistics for almost 20 years.

Sheppey MP Gordon Henderson headed to Queenborough after he heard about the flooding.

He said: “I visited the site and all the houses that were affected. I have arranged to contact the Lower Medway Drainage Board and I suggested they clear the water course that runs across the bottom of Castlemere.

“It wasn’t the cause of the actual flooding but it did exacerbate the problem. The reason it’s happened, according to Southern Water, is there was a catastrophic failure at the pumping station in Rushenden.

“I want them to put measures in place so that this can’t happen.

“It was distressing for me as an outsider so you can imagine how distressing it was for residents to see their homes ruined.”