Homes had to be evacuated after heavy rainfall led to dire flash flooding in Murston, Sittingbourne.

A fire engine and its crew from Eastchurch was deployed to Coombe Drive where it spent the afternoon pumping out water which had seeped into around 10 houses.

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Cllr James Hall (Ind, Murston) of Swale council was on hand to help residents through the ordeal and called the fire brigade.

Homes in Lansdown Road and Woodbury Drive were also affected.

Video by our reporter John Nurden shows a lake in the middle of Coombe Drive leading to several flooded driveways.

Shocked residents watched as the fire crew brought out pumps and hoses and started transferring gallons of water into a nearby field.

More rain was forecast on Sunday.

Cllr Hall said people in the most affected homes had to take up their carpets and vinyl flooring. In some, the flood water was more than a foot deep and reached power sockets.

In one house a child was left stranded upstairs and in another an elderly woman with dementia was stuck in her home.

He said: "People have had to evacuate their houses and take all their food, all their floorboards and clothing out of the house because it was all soaking wet."

According to him this also happened two years ago.

After remedial work by Kent County Council, residents thought the problem was solved until it happened again today.

Furious Steve England, 48, was at his home in Lansdown Road with his wife Caroline and daughter Rhiannon , 20, when rainwater started gushing in through their front door.

The electrical engineer said: "We had the same thing happen in May last year. We had only just got the house back to normal. It had taken about nine to 10 months. And then the same thing has happened again.

"KCC came out to fix the drains but whatever they did doesn't seem to have worked. They just aren't big enough to cope with all the new houses around here. The water came right up to the electrical sockets. This now happens every time it rains. I dread the weather forecast."

He said the rain began at about 2.45pm and within half-an-hour his home was underwater.

In Coombe Drive a huge lake formed and then the water poured down driveways and into homes.

In one, 80-year-old Jean Crook was trapped. Her distraught daughter Leigh Crook said: "As soon as I heard there was flooding I came running. But I couldn't each my mum. She is very confused and agitated. The water is up to her front door. This always happens here when it rains."

Keith Apps who works for Swiss Print returned to find his £30,000 silver company car under water. He said: "It's a hybrid with batteries in the floor. That water will have written it off. Southern Water told me they were cleaning the drains but it seems they missed these ones."

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Wayne Martin, 37, who works for the KCS group parked his van after work at 2.15pm. He said: "It was perfectly dry when I left it. Now it is marooned in a lake. This always happens when it rains but not usually as quickly as this."

Cllr Hall said: "I have raised this matter time and time again but nothing seems to have been done about it."

A Kent County Council spokesman said: "We are aware of the flooding in Sittingbourne on Saturday and our officers worked alongside Kent Fire and Rescue Service to keep water levels to a minimum.

“Unfortunately the extensive rainfall far exceeds what we would expect any drainage system to cope with. Data from an Environment Agency rainfall gauge in Sittingbourne showed there was 40.8mm of rainfall in just 45 minutes resulting in surface water flash flooding.

“We appreciate the harm flooding causes and are investigating all enquires received around public drains and roads, prioritising property flooding and main roads.

“We regularly inspect and clean our major network of around 70,000 surface drains.

“Should residents be concerned about flooding on the highway or flooding as a result of water from the highway they can report it to us. In this instance we will send an officer to investigate and any issues found will be programmed in.

“To report highway flooding or drainage issues via our website please visit www.kent.gov.uk/highways.”

Southern Water has also been asked for a comment.

Flooding was also reported outside Sittingbourne Asda and Screwfix.

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