ROADS and houses were left swamped on Monday after severe rain, which hit the Farnham area on Sunday evening, saw widespread disruption to the whole of the region. Rail and road networks were brought to a standstill as more than the average rainfall for the entire month of August fell in just four- and-a-half hours. Flash floods and landslides followed the downpour, leading to many homes and businesses across the area being engulfed by water. The flooding, caused by a massive 60 - 80mm of rainfall, was labelled "unpredictable" by weather experts, who warned that a similar event could happen again soon. Chris Mitchell, a spokesman for the Environment Agency, said that the storms were very "localised" leading to a lot of rain falling in a small area in a very short period of time. "The basic trajectory of the storm was along the A3, but areas to the west of the road such as Bracknell and Basingstoke were completely untouched by it. I don't think it even rained there," he said. "This was an incredible amount of water that fell in the Farnham area in such a short time." He went on to explain that the average rainfall for the month of August was 55mm, so the downpour had brought over the normal rainfall for the whole of the month in one evening. Occurring between 4 pm and 8-30 pm, the rain caused damage to more than 60 properties around the Farnham, Aldershot and Ash areas and residents were warned that "it could happen again". Mr Mitchell added: "We're expecting thunder showers at the end of the week, but the irony is that we're currently still in a drought at the moment." Floods can occur very quickly and disappear with the same speed, leaving many homes drenched without prior warning - an issue that was labelled a "recurring problem" by fire chiefs called out to deal with the effects of the weather. Steve Burnell, station manager at Farnham Fire Station, said: "With the changing weather that we're getting at the moment, flooding seems to be increasingly common and I think that the global change in the weather is bringing more and more problems." He described how firefighters were called out to 32 incidents over the 24 hours since the downpour. One callout, which occurred on Monday, saw firefighters tackling flood water that ran through 41 properties in Lakeside Close, Ash Vale. One Badshot Lea resident claimed that there must have been three or four inches at least and believed that a record might have been broken. "I was over at St George's Church and it was one foot deep there. All of the roads around Aldershot, Ash and Normandy were completely impassable and flooded. I looked at the weather news and the bright white eye of the storm was over this area for ages. The flooding was totally unprecedented and there were cars everywhere." Some places, such as Chobham were left isolated by the rainfall and completely cut-off by flooding until Monday morning. A spokesman for Surrey Police said: "Chobham was the worst affected area in the county and roads were under up to three feet of water." Police were also made aware of nine vehicles that were stuck in water one foot deep across Lower Weybourne Lane. It stretched for 200 yards under the railway bridge and motorists were left stranded as the water level rose increasingly higher, flooding their exhausts. John Cole, an Aldershot resident and amateur photographer, rushed out to capture the ferocity of the storm and the stranded cars around Water Lane, Farnham. "There were at least two cars there that were completely conked out," he said. "Then a lorry, which was towing another car, got stuck and people got completely soaked pushing this lorry through a deep puddle." Devastation to transport wasn't restricted to the roads, as trains were also left badly affected by the storm. A landslide, caused by the heavy rain, heaped dirt and debris on to tracks between Ash Vale and Brookwood, which led to alternative transport being supplied for commuters. South West Trains anticipated that it would take until Thursday to shift the earth and that a shuttle service will run between Alton and Guildford to help otherwise stranded passengers. A spokesman for the company said: "We had eight feet of water in the underpasses at Aldershot and Brookwood stations that had to be pumped out. We are doing everything we can to get passengers on the move again." Kathryn Meadmore, a Farnham resident and commuter to London, labelled the situation a "nightmare" and described how the infrequent service made it easy to miss a connecting train at Guildford. "It's unbelievable how one evening's rain has really messed everything up," she said. One of the proposals for the East Street regeneration scheme is the addition of a vast underground car park with an entrance near Falkner Court, an area that was left flooded in the downpour. Eric Boyle, a member of the East Street Action Group and a retired mechanical engineer, described the flooding as proof that the proposed car park would be a disaster. "I think this confirms some of our fears," he said. "The bottom of the car park would be at the same level as the river bed, not the river surface, so for the surface near Falkner Court to be flooded shows that the car park would be below the floodline." More than 30 properties in Wessex Place, Farnham, were plunged into darkness on Monday evening, after a major electrical joint underground blew up because of flood damage. The three-way joint, which supplies electricity to around 40 homes on the estate, was said to have raised the pavement when it blew and smoke was seen coming from the ground. A spokesman for Southern Electric confirmed that they received a report at around 8-30 pm on Monday from a customer complaining of the smoke following a "loud boom". The initial explosion cut off the power to 24 homes, but a further 12 needed to be taken off to complete repair works, which were carried out until 1-20 am on Tuesday. Residents whose properties are prone to flooding are being urged by the Environment Agency to sign up to Floodways Direct, a service which keeps people informed of imminent flooding by text messages. For further information, call Floodline on 0845 9881188.
