Get to high ground, residents urged after severe flooding hits West Sussex

Rescue operations are under way after severe flooding in the wake of Storm Kathleen caused a river in West Sussex to burst its banks.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service dealt with a “severe flooding incident” at Medmerry Holiday Park, between Bracklesham and Selsey, urging anyone in the vicinity to get to high ground if they were able to leave their homes.

The service also warned people in the seaside town of Littlehampton to get “as high as possible within their homes” after the River Arun burst its banks.

A statement said anyone requiring lifesaving intervention should dial 999, adding: “Please avoid the area and remain in your homes where possible to allow our crews to work safely.”

More than 200 people have since been evacuated in West Sussex. They included around 180 people rescued overnight from the holiday park and around 15 from Ferry Road and Rope Walk in Littlehampton, West Sussex County Council said.

West Sussex County Council said water levels “have not yet receded”, warning that “flooding may increase throughout the day”.

A resident of Shoreham-by-Sea said flooding in the town was “unprecedented”, and he had stayed awake until the early hours to put flood defences around his property.

Gareth Theobald, 36, said: “I was out the front of the building and watching the water just get higher and higher and higher, and then helping or stopping traffic going into the floodwaters and then just watching in disbelief as the whole of Brighton Road and our multi-million pound development was being engulfed by floodwaters.

“The amount of water is scary and unprecedented, and those houses opposite our development are lower-ground flats and they were all flooded under a foot or so of water.”

He said he saw cars “driving into the floods at speed as well and getting stuck” and that residents were “trying to do what they can”.

South East Coast Ambulance confirmed that a “number of resources” were sent to help evacuate and rescue people from the Medmerry holiday park.

“We’ve assessed and triaged a number of people at a nearby facility. One person showing signs of hypothermia has been taken to hospital,” the service wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The emergency update comes as heavy rain and strong winds are forecast to batter parts of southern England, western Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland over the next few days.

In Hampshire, flooding affected the railway at Lymington Pier.

Meanwhile, in Pembrokeshire, west Wales, Dyfed-Powys Police urged motorists to avoid the area around the A487 at Penycwm after it was closed because of surface water.

The Met Office issued six separate yellow weather warnings, spanning Monday to Wednesday morning.

A yellow weather warning is in force across the South West on Tuesday as Storm Pierreck, named by the French weather service, brings winds up to 65mph on the coast.

Winds in the south-west of England, including in Cornwall and parts of Devon, could reach speeds of up to 60-65mph along some stretches of the coast.

Huge waves sent beach huts crashing into the sea in Falmouth, Cornwall, while the sea wall in Porthleven was damaged.

Simon Partridge, a Met Office forecaster, said that while these levels of rainfall would not be a “huge cause for concern” on their own, they would fall onto already saturated ground, increasing the risk of flooding.

Met Office provisional statistics showed that England saw a record amount of rainfall in the 18 months to March. Mr Partridge said the past three months in particular had made for a “very wet start to the year”.

Mr Partridge said it would be a “blustery day” in England on Tuesday but there would not be “huge totals of rain”, adding: “It’s actually quite warm conditions for the time of year – we could see 19C or 20C across eastern and southeastern parts of the UK come Thursday and Friday. But the North will always stay quite unsettled.”