Gosport families left 'panicked' and 'terrified' after flash flood devastates street

A torrential downpour overwhelmed drains at the junction between Cambridge Road and Grange Crescent in Gosport early on Monday morning.

Water levels rose to almost 2ft at some points, with hundreds of gallons of liquid pouring into eight homes, destroying electrics and ruining flooring and furniture.

Neighbours rallied in a desperate effort to save their homes, with some using their own water pumps to remove the wastewater, while others scrambled to put out sandbags to shore up gardens and doors.

So severe was the flooding, it prompted police to eventually barricade the road from traffic.

Skye Hall, who lives at the junction between Cambridge Road and Grange Crescent, was among those in the street worst affected by the flooding.

The 30-year-old mum said: ‘We were terrified. We were woken by the rain and had lost all the electrics upstairs. We had no idea how badly damaged our home was.

‘When I looked out the window I saw our garden was about a foot under water. Then when I came downstairs I could see water pouring into our home. I just panicked.

‘It was really scary. I didn’t know if I was going to come downstairs and get electrocuted. The stress of it all has been unreal.’

Terri Hall, Skye’s mother, was stunned by the severity of the flooding.

‘It was just like a river outside,’ said the 57-year-old. ‘Things were just floating past.’

Skye said her friend Andy Stringer, who is an electrical contractor, dropped what he was doing after hearing of the community’s plight and rushed from Southend-on-Sea to help restore power to five homes.

Andy, who carried out the repairs for free, said: ‘I knew people needed help so I had a duty of care to do what I could.’

Skye added: ‘The worst part of it all is that we couldn't get any help. We were desperately trying to contact all the local agencies, from about 7am but we couldn’t get hold of anybody.

‘If it hadn’t been for the neighbours pulling together with water pumps and the external contractors who helped with the electrics, there would have been no chance we would have been able to stay in our home tonight.’

Leah Lewis, who lives over the road, was also affected by the flooding and recorded a video of water seeping through her roof.

The 22-year-old mum told The News: ‘I was panicking and was very worried, especially with the damage we had with in the house. Luckily my neighbour didn’t have any problems so she let me take her over there to keep her safe.

‘I didn’t want to risk leaving my child in the house with water running through the electrics. It was very worrying.’

It’s understood a blockage near Ann’s Hill Cemetery caused the mayhem.

Contractors from Southern Water and Southern Electric were last night still on scene helping with the clear up.