A youth hostel cellar had to be pumped out twice by the fire brigade after an underground stream flooded it.

Patcham Place, in London Road, Brighton, was without electricity from Saturday night to late Sunday morning as power lines were disconnected.

A fire crew from Preston Circus, Brighton, had to pump the basement room on Sunday morning and a second time in the afternoon when it flooded again.

Leading firefighter Keith Darlington said: "A small underground river runs through Patcham. It quite often floods because of the high water table.

"We went to the scene and pumped it out, but it just flooded in again. When we did it a second time it wasn't so bad, but water is still seeping into it."

Seeboard disconnected the electricity supply to the Grade II-listed Georgian building while a workman mades sure the power cables were safe. A partial power supply was then restored.

Mr Darlington said: "The trouble is the drains round there are already overflowing so there's nowhere to pump most of the water to.

"With the bad weather that's been forecast, we will have to keep an eye on things along the whole of London Road. All the services are on standby."

Only a few of the hostel's rooms were in use when the flooding was discovered and no guests were evacuated.