Residents braced for more flooding chaos

They endured being cut off during Tuesday night (February 10) and Wednesday morning (February 11) in the worst scenes for more than eight years.

But worse is set to come for them in the next day or so after a month's worth of rain fell in just 24 hours.

Shripney Lane resident Gill Yeates said the first section of the Shripney Manor Ditch '“ which runs between her home at Wheel House, Shripney Lane, and office at Westside, Shripney Road '“ over-topped late Monday night for the first time since the 2000 winter floods.

"The village of Shripney was virtually cut off on Tuesday morning. The previous night saw flood waters reach the front doors of one of our properties on the corner of Shripney Lane and Shripney Road," she explained.

"The real peak was between 11pm on Monday and 2.30am on Tuesday. The force of the water across the lane was so strong that it picked up a couple of wheelie bins and sent them spinning around.

"We spent a considerable amount of time trying to put some defences in place through the night.

"Although the waters receded slightly on Tuesday, we generally get a new surge two to three days later once the rain which fell on higher ground flows through."

Mrs Yeates said the flooding in Shripney Lane was up to ten inches deep. She had to buy 30 sand bags after Arun District Council refused to help her.

She criticised the council's attitude. The neighbouring section of the A29 Shripney Road between the Robin Hood pub and the Lidsey bends was also impassable because of flooding. Police were on the spot to turn away motorists.

The Tesco car park, further south on the A29, next to the Aldingbourne Rife was flooded on Tuesday. Security guards were only allowing in customers on foot. Several roads around the Six Villages were also badly affected.

One of the first drivers to experience the terrible conditions was Pagham man Colin Murphy. He came across three one-foot deep stretches of flooding as he drove along the A259 Chichester Road about 9.20pm on Monday night.

"We pay enough council tax yet there's nothing being done about the situation," he fumed. "It's a completely ridiculous situation. The money is not being spent where it should be."

Motorists struggled to get to work on Tuesday morning because of the flooding.

One motorists took an hour and 20 minutes to travel eight miles from Felpham to Chichester because the remaining roads were clogged with traffic.

A jogger could do it quicker. A Sunningdale Gardens resident reported that the route of the northern relief road was underwater on Tuesday morning.

In The Hard, Elmer Sands, the water reached 6in to 8in deep and still flooded the road on Tuesday afternoon.

The immediate cause of the problems was the previous day's deluge of just over an inch of rain '“ 25.7mm. This compares to 26.7mm during the whole of February 2008.

Average rainfall for the month is 72.83mm.

This week's downpours were on top of already saturated ground to make matters worse.

The latest soaking prompted more than 150 emergency calls for firefighters to attend properties, roads and motorists stuck in cars affected by flood water.

The calls were mainly from the coastal strip, including Walberton, Barnham and Felpham. Crews were involved in helping the public from vehicles, protecting property and pumping water where possible..