Newhaven mum and daughter praise ‘amazing’ firefighters as home is nearly flooded

Michelle and Rachel Collins feared the worst yesterday (March 5), when their road flooded following heavy downpours.

Three fire engines were sent to The Fairway in Newhaven after reports of severe flooding.

The road was closed for several hours while emergency crews tackled the incident.

Rachel, 27, said: “We were just about to have a nap when a neighbour knocked on our door. When we opened it we just saw this water coming towards our doorstep.

“It almost came into the house. The garage was flooded and our back garden was like a lake.

“We had no sandbags left to use so we called the fire brigade.”

Rachel said fire crews made a row of sandbags to direct the water elsewhere and pumped water out of the road.

“They were amazing – they had been to so many call outs that day but were still on top of their game – they got there just in time,” she commented.

“It has flooded here before but nowhere near as bad as that.”

Michelle, 66, said: “It has happened before but the amount of rain we had – it built up – the drains don’t cope with it.

“It was a bit of a worry because it was worse than we had ever seen.

“The firefighters and neighbours who helped were absolutely amazing.

“The firefighters were stretched beyond measure – they were down the road dealing with flooding just before. It is nice to have that support from the services, people complain but you can’t fault them – they were brilliant.”