THE Swirl of deep, filthy water flooded into hundreds of buildings around Tonbridge yesterday. It collected the mess from drains and sewers, the oil from submerged cars, and the mud and debris from swamped gardens and smeared it on the walls and floors of neat, commuter-belt homes.
The water on one estate at Hildenborough was over 6ft deep in places. People living in bungalows watched helplessly as their homes and belongings were engulfed. Other families, with upstairs rooms, spent house moving furniture into bedrooms.
Neighbourliness reached wartime heights. People outside the flooded areas provided meals and hot drinks for the less fortunate. Men who normally brush shoulders in rush-hour trains suddenly became friends.
A man sailed past a bedroom window in an inflatable paddling pool, handing out coffee to trapped families. “How much?” asked one customer. “It is free. I am your neighbour. I live just round the corner,” came the reply.
An old woman, chest high in water in her bungalow, was rescued holding her cat. She had been standing helpless for over two hours. Elsewhere in the area there were stories of people being rescued as the flood waters tilted down hills in a foaming current.
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Fire engines sucked ineffectively at the floods. One machine was marooned and had to be towed to dry ground.
During the day dinghies and canoes suddenly appeared above suburban gardens, sailing on errands to shops which were not flooded. Gas and electricity were cut off, and meals were provided in emergency centres, where families arrive looking like refugees. Police gave a warning that all household water should be boiled before use. Telephone communication was cut off or severely delayed.
Soldiers, exhausted from a night of rescue work, arrived in Tonbridge during the afternoon in an amphibious craft to evacuate families who preferred not to risk another night of floods.