Aylesford villagers battle to save homes from flooding
09:05, 10 February 2009
updated: 16:00, 02 May 2019
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Homeowners have described battling to save their houses from flooding in Aylesford in the middle of the night with one likening it to "the Poseidon Adventure".
People living in Bush Row and Rochester Road, Aylesford, were worst affected by flooding caused by heavy storms and high winds, when a nearby stream burst its banks.
Residents said thethe water was thigh high at midnight.
Calum Riach, of Bush Row, whose ground floor rooms were flooded, said: "It was like the Poisedon Adventure of Bush Row.
"I was woken up around 11pm by a neighbour saying the stream had burst its banks and an hour later the water was thigh high.
"I went to bed about 3.30pm and the water inside the house was still deep but it had stopped rising but there was still a lot of it around.
"We managed to get sandbags from the end of the road and just started stacking them in front of the houses."
He added: "There is not a lot I can do at the moment, I’m just waiting to speak to my insurance company."
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The basement of the nearby Bush Pub, which fronts Rochester Road, was also flooded.
Landlady Kim Valentine said: "At its worst there was about nine inches of water in the cellar and we managed to get our pumps working."
It is one of the worst floods residents recall in seven to eight years.
A Kent Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said crews were not sent to Aylesford as there was no risk to life.
The service’s control centre also handled calls about flooding in Ashes Lane and Matthews Lane, Hadlow, Danvers Road and Holford Street in Tonbridge, Badsell Road and Whetsted Road in Five Oak Green and Bull Lane in Birling.
Police also had to close many roads overnight as they became impassable with water.
Mid Kent Police spokeswoman, Pippa Taylor, said police took nine calls about flooding after midnight on Tuesday.
Around three feet of water and mud fell near The Vicarage in Yalding and in Castle Road, Allington, a tree fell onto telephone wires.
Cars became stuck in Sheephurst Lane, Marden, and Plain Road in Marden had to be closed.
Spot Lane,Bearsted, was also affected and police warning signs were also put up in Bearsted Road, Weavering.
Firefighters had to pump a nursing home free of water after it flooded twice overnight.
Crews from Maidstone Fire Station were called to the nursing home in Frittenden Road, Staplehurst, at 9pm last night and 1.30am this morning.
Crews used a light portable pump to rid the building of water. It is thought no-one had to be evacuated as the water was confined to ground and basement floors.
In Maidstone, the River Medway burst its banks and river levels have been higher than normal in the last two weeks.
Last night a woman died in a road crash on the M25 after her car careered into a petrol tanker.
The woman, who has not been named, but is thought to be in her mid 40s, was travelling clockwise on the motorway between junctions two and three when her car slewed across the carriageway in wet conditions and collided with the tanker.
Police closed the carriageway shortly after the incident, at about 7.15pm on Monday. It was re-opened several hours later.
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