RISING floodwaters are causing concern in Stanford-le-Hope where cars have already been submerged and some homes are fighting to keep water at bay.

Firefighters, who have reported a busy morning across the east of the borough combatting flooding, are trying to help stem the tide as it seeps into homes on Runneymede Road, with the adjacent park under water too.

It seems a tough task as water is surging up through the drainage system which is clearly struggling to cope.

Off Victoria Road, a few hundred yards away several cars parked on Bells-Reeve Close are already half submerged in water which is lapping at the foot of some homes including the neighbouring Ellie Close – and the nearby factory of Daybreak Window is currently a foot deep in water. The factory is the planned site of the town's new car park park!

Alongside Daybreak's yard and the homes of Victoria Road, the River Hope is close to bursting its banks as it flows right through the town centre and in areas, like Runnymede Road, where these is no protection, it is already seeping over.

Residents in the area who have lived here for decades say they cannot remember anything like it and they are questioning the sanity of Thurrock council allowing new homes developments in the floodplain.

And another theory being put forward that the problems today are caused by the widening of the A13. A local farmer, who has been on the land for many years says the widening process has blocked the normal escape route for water running of the hill approaching Horndon on the Hill and it is now backing up and reaching the Hope and funneling into the town area.

Residents living on Poley Road awake to water lapping into their back gardens and immediately flagged up concerns about the water being displaced towards their homes from the new Stanford Meadows estate being built by Persimmon. The site is less than half built out but it was thought provision for flooding had been provided by the creation of a new pond and a small overflow pond but both are now full and water is draining off the land towards the houses on Poley Road, Butts Road and Kingsman Road.

The concern of residents on those roads about the impact of the housebuilding is echoed across the rover by resident in the roads off Victoria Road. As reported on Thurrock Nub News yesterday, work is due to start later this year on a new housing estate on a floodplain – which by lunchtime today was underwater!

Not least among the questions being raised by local people was how will anyone get insurance for their homes?

Stanford West Ward councillors Shane Hebb and Terry Piccolo have been out and about and observing the situation and Cllr Piccolo says the council is ready to offer help where needed.

Cllr Piccolo says: ""If the problem is an emergency please call 01375 366100 during office hours or call 01375 372468 at other times. Use the online map on the council website to show where there's a highways problem and the report details to the above numbers."

Concerns about the situation getting worse are mounting as there is continual rain forecast, some of it quite heavy, for at least the next four days.