I live in Morris Road, Lewes, which suffered in the recent flood shown in all the media.

My house is one of four at the lowest level in the road. On January 2, at approximately 12.30am, the tide at Lewes old bridge in Cliffe High Street was at its highest and residents saw the surface water coming up into our road from the road drain gulleys.

The water rose above kerb level and crossed the pavement, stopping at the beginning of my front path.

We were very pleased to see a representative of the council present in our street checking the water levels and reporting back to base.

Two of the residents and I went to the bridge in Cliffe High Street and the car park behind the Argos shop building to check the water levels, which were approximately three feet below the level of the flood protection wall in the car park and approximately 12ft 6in below the apex of the bridge arch.

By about 1.15am, the water had subsided in Morris Road and I went to bed. Imagine my alarm the next morning when I awoke to Southern Counties Radio and heard the radio car report by a female reporter - at approximately 7-7.30am and broadcast between 8am and 8.30am, supposedly from the bridge in Cliffe High Street - that the flood water was up to the top of the bridge.

If this had been true, the Cliffe area would have been flooded to a depth of eight feet and Morris Road to 12 feet.

This report was totally incorrect. I am angry and alarmed a report can be broadcast without checks being made as to its accuracy. Action must be taken to prevent a reoccurrence.

I suspect this is not an isolated case. We listeners and licence payers who rely on the media for information as well as entertainment expect accurate reporting, not hype and overdramatisation in the cause of a good story.

Michael Macloughlin, Morris Road, Lewes

-* A spokesman on behalf of BBC Southern Counties Radio replies: We sent a reporter to Lewes on the morning of Friday, January 3, to report on a flood warning issued the day before by the Environment Agency. She spoke to Lewes Flood Action about the flood threat having receded and the town no longer being at risk. She then asked questions relating to the general issues of flood defence, living with the fear of flood waters rising again and the experience of the floods in October 2000. Our reporter, an experienced broadcast journalist, responsibly told our listeners what she could see and clearly said there was no great threat to Lewes. In fact, the Environment Agency thanked us for our responsible coverage and praised us for our work two years ago, saying our broadcasts had helped save lives.