Flash flooding puts part of city underwater as dry spell breaks

Video footage of the A27 roundabout at Tangmere showed vehicles negotiating lanes several inches deep in water.

Mum Emma O’Neill, who sent in the footage, said her nine-year-old son Harvey had suggested they needed ‘to get a boat’ instead of a car.

She said: "It took us two hours to get to Chichester and back.

"I’ve lived in Tangmere 11 years and never seen anything like it."

Flooding was also reported in Sherbourne Road, College Road and at the fire station roundabout, with traffic delayed and motorists taking turns to crawl through deeper stretches .

Additional delays were reported on the A27 after hay dropped from the back of a lorry at Bognor Road roundabout.

A West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service firefighter tweeted on the day, warning motorists to drive carefully given the conditions.

Highways workers at West Sussex County Council tweeted they had had ‘an eventful’ day attending 26 emergency calls, including 14 reports of fallen trees, eight reports of flooding, two broken manhole covers and a road accident.