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08:36 - 30-May-2008
Firefighters evacuated homes in the worst hit areas of south Somerset after a sudden and heavy burst of rain between 6.30pm and 7pm on Thursday.
By later that night the flooding was beginning to subside almost as soon as it had begun, but hundreds of people were waking up to flood-damaged homes.
At the storm's peak Devon and Somerset Fire Brigade was taking calls "every few seconds" from worried residents, with more than 350 emergency calls received in just two and a half hours.
A fire brigade spokesman said the exact number of people evacuated was not known but an emergency centre had not been set up because all were being accommodated by family or friends.
More than half a dozen cars were abandoned after getting stuck in waterlogged roads across the region. Four people were rescued by firefighters when their car was stuck in a flood near Langford Bridge near Honiton.
There are no reports of anyone injured because of the floods.
There was intermittent rain through the region overnight but there have been no reports of any more floods.
A spokeswoman for MeteoGroup UK, the weather division of the Press Association, said that while some localised flooding could still affect south-west England it was not expected to be serious.
Devon and Somerset Fire Service spokesman Andy Newland emphasised Thursday night's flood happened in different circumstances to the floods that wreaked havoc across south and central England last summer.
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The motorist feels somewhat battered from all sides, seeing the oil companies going off with cash in their pockets and the Treasury filling its coffers
Edmund King, President of the AA
