FLOOD chaos hit East Lancashire last night as torrential rain wreaked havoc across the area.

Homes close to the River Darwen, in Darwen, were flooded when the river burst its banks, while the town centre was also temporarily cut off.

Clitheroe was also badly hit by heavy downpours, with homes and businesses in the Salthill Road area flooded overnight.

The downpour also transformed roads around Pendle Hill into streams of running water and flooded houses in the Rossendale Valley.

Police, firefighters, council officials and the Highways Authority battled against the weather throughout the night.

In Darwen, the A666 Bolton Road from Hardman Way to Bowling Green Close was closed for more than four hours and a diversion was set up.

Officers said the worse affected area was Bowling Green Close, where a culvert became blocked and later collapsed, but residents in Mayfield Court, Bolton Road, and the Zen Wallcoverings factory in Grimshaw Street were also hit.

Firefighters were called out shortly after 11pm and worked until 4am diverting the water.

Bowling Green Close resident Alan Holmes, 70, said: "It was coming down like a river at the front and back of my house. The fence had to be pulled down to let the water through.

"Water was seeping through the patio doors. It really has made a mess of the place but there is a lot of community spirit around here and everybody is pulling together."

His disabled neighbours Joan and Fred Thompson were the worst affected by the flood.

Joan, 80, who is wheelchair bound, said: "We were just going to bed when it started. I pulled back the curtains and it just looked like a river in our back garden. It's a shame because we just had it looking nice."

Inspector Steve Baines, of Lancashire Police, explained: "The main problems were in Bowling Green Close, Darwen, where the River Darwen bursts it's banks and Clitheroe, where heavy downpours flooded up to 25 homes and commercial properties overnight.

"There were problems around Pendle Hill and in Clitheroe but these were due to heavy downpours of rain. "

Bernard Richards, of Salthill View, Clitheroe, said he went outside at about 9pm to find the road transformed into a stream.

He went on: "I could feel the current against my legs and it was about shin-deep. It came right up to the font door and into the vestibule. This is the first time this has happened in my memory and it's left me with a real clean-up job."

Neighbour Kevin Curtis, of nearby Salthill Road, went on: "It was like a river. It flooded the back of my house, utility room and conservatory.

"I just opened the back door and it came flooding in. I've lived here 18 years and never seen anything like it. I just hope it doesn't happen again because it's left me with a heck of a clean up job."

Karl Beard, commercial manager at Ultraframe in Salthill Road, said night staff were busy keeping water at bay and that no stock was damaged by floods.

He went on: "They were keeping it at bay as best they could and cleaning up. This is the first flood we have had since 1980 and it is a good job we had night staff in."

Homes in Hardman Avenue, in Hall Carr, Rawtenstall, were also flooded after a drain in a nearby field was blocked earlier today.

Firefighters from Rawtenstall helped residents to bail out water which had seeped in after the blocked drain caused gardens to fill up with water.

They were later called back to Hardman Avenue when the volume of water coming off the hill threatened to flood other properties.

Firefighters unblocked drains and diverted the water from the houses.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.