Several rivers in Sussex remain on flood alert as experts predict any more rain could lead to disaster.

Residents in Patcham, Brighton, are bracing themselves as an underwater lake continues to rise two metres a day.

The Environment Agency said the measurements followed the same pattern as they did before the 2000 floods.

Spokesman Ray Kemp said while water on land could be pumped out, there was nowhere for underground water to go.

Water could soon start pouring off the saturated South Downs into low-lying areas.

Brighton and Hove City Council staff have been visiting homes and businesses around Patcham recreation ground, Old London Road and Waterhall to discuss how people can protect their properties.

Drains have been checked but the council said they could be overwhelmed if water reached 2000 levels.

Council leader Ken Bodfish said: "Even the experts can't predict exactly what will happen. We should know in the next few days the extent of the problems."

Residents in Beacon Road, Ditching, walked in front of cars to slow them down so they would not spray water into their homes yesterday morning.

The road was flooded with 8in of water, which was seeping into homes as motorists drove past on the busy road.

The problem on the road was caused because the drains could not cope with the water running off the downs.

East Sussex County Council said it had been constantly clearing drains and gullys.

A spokesman said: "The drains are working. There is so much water coming down they cannot absorb any more."

In Bevendean, Brighton, residents were confident flood measures, put in place after the estate was struck by floods in 2000, would work despite Taunton Road flooding.

Fire crews were called to help pump out a house in Windermere Crescent, Goring, shortly after 11am and an hour later they were called to two houses in Roundstone Drive, East Preston.

East Sussex fire crews were called to pump water out from homes at Rotherfield, near Crowborough, and Northiam, near Hastings, and another in Bexhill.

Many people, particularly in flood-prone Lewes, Uckfield and Hellingly, near Hailsham, were praying for a few rain-free days.

They were also hoping that a heavy spell of rain expected to bring up to an inch of water would pass the county by.

In Uckfield, vulnerable homes and businesses were heeding advice from the Environment Agency to shore up.

There was growing resentment that little had been done to stem the threat of more floods.

Staff at architects Peter Taylor Associates, off Uckfield High Street, moved ground floor furniture and sandbagged the site .

Managing director Peter Taylor said: "I'm fed up. After we were flooded in 1994, the Environment Agency commissioned a report on how to prevent another one. A copy sits on my desk and none of the recommendations have been implemented.

"Since then we were flooded four times in 2000. Now we're facing up to it happening again."

In Hellingly, lakes of water had formed on fields. Vanessa Minn, secretary of the Cuckmere Flood Forum, said: "We're hoping for about a month free of any rain."