LOCAL people were mopping up this week and counting the cost of Saturday's freak storms which left a trail of devastation in Haslemere and the surrounding areas.
It was described as the worst storm in living memory.
Homes and shops were flooded out within minutes, as the violent thunder, lightning and torrential rain hit parts of Haslemere and across the West Sussex and Hampshire county borders during the late afternoon and early evening.
The cost of clearing up and replacing ruined furniture, carpets and other goods is likely to run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Within a space of just two-and-a-half hours, Haslemere fire station received 44 calls for emergency help as water cascaded into homes and businesses and power cuts caused havoc.
In some areas, raw sewage caused an additional problem contaminating gardens and other areas.
All three of the roads under railway bridges on the approaches to the town were up to four feet under water, in Haslemere and Shottermill.
At Foster's Bridge near Haslemere railway station, a car which quickly filled up with water was caught on camera by local GP Dr Jeremy Cornish as he queued in long tailbacks of traffic caught up in the sudden downpour.
In Wey Hill, some homes faced a wall of water waist -deep as car parks were turned into lakes. With nowhere for the water to go, it forced its way though fences, leaving cars floating in a sea of rainwater.
Drains were unable to cope with the sudden deluge as mud, debris and water poured into homes and garages in St Christopher's Road and other parts of the town.
At Fernhurst a resident of Nappers Wood had a lucky escape when a bolt of lightning struck a small block of flats.
The force blew a gas fire in one flat across the lounge, just moments after the occupant had left the room.
It also demolished a chimney of another house. Tiles were ripped off roofs and a number of windows were blown out. Twenty minutes before, a tree in Fernhurst had been struck by lightning.
The basement of theatrical costumers Haslemere Wardrobe, which houses an irreplaceable collection of authentic period clothes and costumes, was flooded out as a torrent of up to four feet of water gushed in through the rear of the shop.
The force of the water up-ended electrical appliances and boxes of priceless garments were lifted off the floor and carried on the waves towards the back of the shop, while other treasures were left floating around.
Staff surveyed the devastating scene, with brown silt covering the basement floor and thousands of dripping garments hanging on the rails.
Shop owner Josephine Jeffery took the first flight back home on Monday morning from the south of France where she was staying, after a friend phoned her with the news. She said she was "gobsmacked".
"I started this business 27 years ago and have more than 30,000 costumes. There is an original 1920s lady's silk opera cloak, the original stage show "My Fair Lady" hat made by Gerald Cheshire for Cecil Beaton, silk top hats...it's so sad." she told The Herald.
"At the end of the day you just have to take a deep breath and get on with it," said Mrs Jeffrey.
Nearby in St Christopher's Road, Rodney Hollyman couldn't believe his eyes when the rain started to pour into the basement flat of his property, and an eight feet deep by four feet diameter crater opened up in his garden.
"You can hear running water below it and I believe part of the culvert has broken away," said a concerned Mr Hollyman.
"When the rain started to fill up the garden we had a four foot fountain shooting out from the drain."
Several people were forced to leave their homes and spent the night in local hotels because of the damage caused by the flooding.
Jim Edwards from Basix, the discount shop in Wey Hill arrived on Sunday to find goods in his stockroom at the back of the shop afloat after at least three feet of water which surged in under the door, along with leaves and debris believed to come up from the drains.
"I've never known anything like it in the 25 years I've been here," said Neville Park from Haslemere Flowers next door.
"It was just like a tidal wave hitting the back of the shop as drivers were trying to make their way through the floods, and plants were floating down the street," said Mr Park.
And he said the problems would have been even worse had it not been for an upstairs neighbour who went out in the road to lift off drain and manhole covers.
"Whoever it was deserves a medal," said Mr Park, who said the force of the storm had caught everybody by surprise.
Opposite, Frenchman Stephane Jacob from Brasserie Ma Cuisine used tablecloths to soak up the water from a completely sodden and ruined carpet after water flooded in.
With 100 customers expected to celebrate Bastille Day tomorrow (Saturday) he was hoping to have the carpet replaced and be back in business.
"My wife Nelly was crying - she didn't know what to do - it's terrible - it's our business," said Mr Jacob.
He and many others affected by the storms blamed the authorities for a lack of maintenance of drains which they claimed were blocked with leaves and other debris.
Tesco in Wey Hill was forced to close its doors as water poured down into the car park and through the entrance to the store at around 7-30 pm.
The store, which wasn't due to close until 10 pm, was evacuated and closed.
"We pulled out all the stops to get the store open on Sunday and brought in cleaners and staff from other stores in the area to help. We will be holding a meeting next week to see what can be done to ensure that it can't happen again," said a spokesman.
It was a similar story in Shottermill where the Shottermill ponds overflowed, flooding homes and businesses in the area.
As the piles of sodden carpets and furnture were mounting outside homes, Jane Hamlin, who lives close to Critchere Lane and the railway bridge in Shottermill, said there were fountains of water rising from the railway embankment.
For some, she said, it was the third time since Easter 2000 that they had been affected by flooding.
"I believe it is the first time in living memory that the pond has overflowed," said Mrs Hamlin.
"The water all subsided very quickly but I was bailing it out from 6-30 pm until nearly 8 pm," she added.
Homes in Oaktree Lane were also affected by the storms and this week Michael McCann, a former policeman, and his family were counting the cost of the damage which Michael belived would run into thousands of pounds.
Michael Morris, one of several people to suffer severe flooding in Camelsdale Road, blamed West Sussex County Council which, he claimed, had opted for "a cheap alternative to spending what was necessary to provide adequate protection" against flooding.
"We have been flooded on three previous occasions and have a permanent line of sandbags along our boundary" said Mr Morris, who had four to six inches of water pouring into his home during the storms.
He accused the authorities of "gross negligence of an unbelievable nature".
Torrential rain, thunder and lightning also hit Liphook late on Saturday afternoon causing power failures and flooding across the village.
Organisers of the Liphook Infant School summer fete counted their blessings as the event had just ended when the storm began.
Parents' Association chairman Beth Marr returned to her Haslemere Road road home and minutes later raw sewage erupted from a manhole outside her front door, flooding her garage and garden.
"It's the second time in ten months this has happened," she told The Herald. Although her husband Nigel and friends eventually managed to sweep out the worst of the sewage, garden furniture and equipment and children's toys have been lost.
Mrs Marr said she had been promised by Thames Water last year that the disaster would not be repeated and work would be carried out to the sewer, but it clearly had not happened.
All over the village, tennis fans had been waiting to watch the big Tim Henman semi -final. But as the players came out at Wimbledon, the power went off in Liphook. There were four short power failures throughout the early evening.
Roads turned to rivers and hours later left surfaces covered in gravel.
At Hill House Hill, the road was flooded for several hours.
Settling down to normality after the storm, Sharon and Kenneth Phipps from Fernhurst told The Herald on Wednesday that the damage to neighbouring houses, looked as if a chainsaw had cut through the roofs of the buildings.
The bolt of lightning also caught the couple completely unawares. Mr Phipps was in his bathroom, just as lightning struck the block of flats.
"There was dust and soot coming down the chimney and in the flat above, all the electrics had blown off the walls, two windows were smashed and the power points blown off."
Luckily, Mrs Phipps said, there was no power in the road at the time as there had been a power cut about an hour before.
The fire brigade was on the scene within minutes and checked lofts before knocking down what remained of the chimney to make it safe.
"The council told us to turn all the electric and gas off and at about 10 pm they cordoned off flats," she added.
Residents from the four flats affected went to stay with family and friends.
The couple, who have lived in Nappers Wood for nine years, said they have never known a storm like it in Fernhurst.