Heavy rain and gales brought chaos to many Sussex roads again today as environment chiefs warned of possible flooding by tonight.

Trees, scaffolding and signs were brought down as winds gusted to 60mph and blocked drains led to flooding, with many roads and several homes affected.

Localised flooding was reported on several major routes in Hampshire, Sussex and Kent as gusts of up 50mph stripped trees of their leaves, blocking drains.

Firefighters dealt with dozens of fallen trees during the night.

East Sussex Fire Brigade said it had more than 200 calls yesterday, many of them relating to dangerous scaffolding in Brighton, Hove and Hastings.

The occupants of two homes in Hamsey Road, Barcombe, near Lewes, had a lucky escape when lightning struck their properties.

The impact blew one home's kitchen to pieces but no one was injured, a Fire Brigade spokeswoman said.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said they had received 350 weather-related calls in 24 hours.

In East Grinstead, people had to be rescued by the fire brigade from three cars which were caught in floods.

In Crawley and Horsham, firefighters received more than 20 calls in two hours to deal with flooded gardens.

They sandbagged houses and pumped water away from a burst drain at the back of Broadfield Stadium to protect industrial property nearby.

The worst hit areas were Ifield, Gossops Green, Pound Hill and Broadfield in Crawley and Blackbridge Lane, Horsham.

A spokesman at the Bohemia Road fire stations in Hastings said they were called to check on structures at the Regency Hotel, Eversfield Place, and several other buildings along the seafront.

Parts of West Street in Brighton were closed after overhanging shop signs and scaffolding were blown into the road.

Hove weatherman Ken Woodhams recorded nearly three-quarters of an inch of rainfall.

Anglers were ordered off Worthing Pier as waves threatened to swamp the landing stage.

Police considered closing part of the seafront after pebbles were lifted off the beach by Force Ten gusts and pelted against the sides of parked cars.

Two properties in Crawley suffered some flood damage because drains could not cope.

Beach huts were blown down in Lancing and damaged in Hove.

As heavy rain continued, the Environment Agency said there was growing concern about the risk of flooding in the coming weeks as weather patterns similar to those which brought such devastation a year ago were once again beginning to form.

Many rivers remained on Flood Watch today.

In Sussex alerts were in force for the Ouse near Lewes, the Uck at Uckfield and the Cuckmere.

There were eight Flood Watches in place on rivers and catchment areas in Sussex.

Environment Agency spokesman Ray Kemp said: "This is a tense time. There were no major problems overnight but the rain is due to continue today.

"I would expect there to be localised flooding on many roads as a lot of leaves have come down. Motorists should take extra care.

"There are Flood Watches on all the same rivers across the region that caused such problems last year. We hope we do not have to put on any warnings today.

"But in some areas the water tables were not very low after last year. There are some areas where we have only just got over last year's flooding.

"And even more worrying is that the same weather patterns as we saw last year are forming again. We shall be monitoring the situation very closely."

Meanwhile, Railtrack said the clear-up operation was still under way in the aftermath of yesterday's gales.

A spokesman said: "The clear-up operation is still under way. We do have a number of trees down but they are not expected to cause any delays."