COMMUNITIES in Rossendale were counting the cost today after torrential rain brought flooding chaos.

Hardest hit was the Rossendale Valley after the River Irwell at Cowpe burst its banks, sending water rushing down the streets yesterday.

After a flooding warning by the Environment Agency for the Rossendale river valley, senior fire officers said stations received 50 calls in less than an hour yesterday afternoon.

A row of about 16 terrace houses in Bacup Road, Cloughfold, was one of the first communities to suffer when all the houses flooded at about 4pm.

Water gushed into all the homes, completely flooding the downstairs rooms, leaving living rooms ankle-deep in water.

Fire crews pumped out the homes for almost five hours. At one stage, crews from Burnley, Rawtenstall, and the environmental protection unit from Burnley, were on the scene with nine firefighters.

Leading firefighter Shaun Eastham, of Burnley Fire Station, said flooded cellars were the main problem.

He added: "I was concerned because that's where the electricity meters are, so it is very important to clear them out. The water was absolutely streaming down the road at one point."

Singh off-licence, in the middle of the terrace block, bore the brunt of the flooding as water pressure forced a hole in the front of the shop.

Son at the family-run shop, Runjeet, 22, said his mother, Gain Kaur, 54, was trying to tackle it on her own before firefighters arrived.

He said: Water just pushed through the wall and it started coming in so fast and filled up so quickly. We have just got new carpets as well. They are ruined."

Another Bacup Road resident John Nuttall, 45, said his cellar was three-feet deep in water.

He said: "I was just going upstairs to fit some new furniture when water started coming in. I blocked some of it off, but it has wrecked all of downstairs."

And Marion Royal, 56, said water suddenly began seeping in through her lounge window.

She said: "The pavement is lower than the road outside our house and I could see it rising, then all hell broke loose and it was coming in from everywhere. It's all over the place. In the back yard, it was knee-high at one point."