HOMES were left without power and businesses were flooded as south Essex struggled to cope with a night of downpours.

Residents woke up yesterday morning to find their homes under water.

Businesses in Eastern Esplanade and Furtherwick Road, Canvey, lost out on trade as customers struggled to make their way through floods covering roads on the island.

Michelle Gray, 47, manager of the Monico Pub, on Eastern Esplanade, said: “We noticed that businesses were significantly quieter because of the heavy rain and water.

“The water is splashing up against the walls of the building, and we are having to replace the render on the outside.

“Its just not good for trade.

“There was even a man sitting on a chair with a fishing rod, fishing into the road.

“We have got decorators in at the moment working upstairs, and I had to get them to let me in because the front of the pub was flooded.

“This is becoming a regular occurrence every time we have heavy rain, and with more bad weather on the way the situation will only get worse.”

More than 800 properties in Wickford were left without power because of severe storms.

Fred Williams, 73, of Church End Lane, said: “This has happened here before.

“The problem is that the pipes can’t cope with the huge amount of water.

“I have lost wood that I keep for my burner to heat my house, and gardening equipment and items have also been damaged in the floods.

“We also have freezers in one of our outhouses, and we had to put bricks underneath the freezers to stop water getting in.”

Mr Williams added: “The water was about one foot deep and it was covering the whole garden, I think that other properties were also badly affected.

“My daughter walked down the road and was knocking on doors to let our neighbours know that water was covering their properties. Some people even had water in cars.”

A spokesman for UK Power Network said: “Following storm damage to overhead electricity equipment, 826 customers in the Wickford area would have seen an interruption to their power supplies at around 5am.

“Engineers worked as quickly and safely as possible to restore power in stages, with one customer currently without supply, and we are working hard to make sure they have power as soon as possible.”

Firefighters were called out at about 6.15am to help clear water and ensure the area was safe.