Torrential rain caused chaos as flash floods threatened homes and businesses.

The worst hit area was around Worthing and in Angmering, where 41mm of rain fell in 24 hours.

The Environment Agency issued flood watches - its lowest level warning - for the Upper Arun, Lower Arun, Western Rother and Ferring regions.

Heavy rainfall began about 5pm on Saturday and intensified before dying down about 11pm.

Sussex Fire Brigade received dozens of reports of flooding, many resulting from blocked drains.

A spokeswoman said: "Most of the calls came from residents in Worthing, Fittleworth, Midhurst and Camelsdale.

"We were kept very busy. But by the time we got there it had usually subsided."

The Eastbourne and Hastings areas were also affected with fire crews called to three outbreaks of flooding in Warrior Square and the Marina in Hastings as gulleys were blocked.

Water up to eight inches deep blocked Wigmore and Warren Roads in Worthing and High Street in Tarring for several hours.

West Tarring Post Office on High Street escaped flooding by centimetres.

Simon Chatfield, whose parents run the post office, blamed the council for failing to clean the drains properly.

He said: "I went down to have a look when it had been raining a couple of hours and found rain right up to the front door. Out the back it was worse. The drains suddenly gave way and it was flowing like a river.

"We keep telling the council to clean the drains because every time it rains it floods here.

"Luckily we didn't suffer any damage thanks to the fire brigade who did a brilliant job. We used wood and plastic sheeting to cover the door and sandbags to stop the water coming up and just about succeeded in keeping it out."

Russell Harding, manager of The George and Dragon pub in Tarring, said: "We had flooding in the High Street last autumn but I don't think anyone's ever seen it as bad as this. It was getting on for a foot high.

"The pub was quite lucky. The water just came up to the step and no further, it was pretty bad but it was gone quite quickly."

Firefighters cleared drains causing flooding to the flat roof of classrooms at Midhurst Grammar School and rescued a car and its occupants from flood water on the road between Fittleworth and Coates Common.

A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said: "The Angmering area received a huge amount of rain in a short period of time and was the area worst affected.

"We had quite a lot of surface water flooding across the region. The problem was the ground is quite hard at the moment and we got a lot of water just sitting on the surface.

"The rainfall was quite intense but we had no reports of serious flooding. The rivers have obviously been quite low recently and we had no reports of rivers flooding.

"The main problem was on the roads, particularly in Worthing where we were warning drivers to take care."

Meanwhile firefighters were called to a number of chimney fires after they were struck by lightning. A fire at a block of flats at Nappers Wood, Fernshurst was put out after the chimney caught light shortly after 7.30pm.