Rescue workers raced against a rising tide today to rescue an elderly couple trapped by flood water.

Fire crews and police battled in pouring rain at Swan Corner, Pulborough, as Environment Agency officials predicted the area could see worse flooding than the devastating events of two years ago.

West Sussex firefighters used an inflatable liferaft to bring Sheila and Denis Corden, 75 and 73, to safety.

Water was already waist deep at 9.30am, at low tide, and agency workers were expecting it to get worse at this afternoon's high tide.

Water from the swollen River Arun had come in over a wall at a building site next to the couple's property and into their home through the garden.

The cottage is on lower ground than most homes in the village but Environment Agency staff feared other properties, and houses in nearby Causeway, south of Pulborough, could also be in danger.

Sheila Corden, who had to be rescued from the floods two years ago, said: "We had to go out by the back door and were put on the raft and brought to the neighbour's garden where we climbed over their wall and then back on the raft.

"We were then brought to safety.

"There are four inches of water at the moment, but we're told it will probably get worse.

"We've moved things out of the way but we are too old for this."

Firefighters and police were gearing up for a long, wet day rescuing people.

Sussex has been warned to expect floods on a scale not witnessed since the catastrophic flooding of October 2000.