ESSEX Fire and Rescue Service dealt with more than 100 incidents across the county last night (Wednesday, 20 October) and in the early hours of the morning in the wake of Storm Aurore

Among them was a call to pump out homes that had been flooded in Grays.

Crews were called to Catalina Avenue in Chafford Hundred at 1.31am to pump water from multiple properties. They used pumps to divert floodwater to a nearby drain.

Between 10pm and 5am, the service control Team received more than 160 calls relating to incidents as a result of adverse weather conditions.

Control Officers sent crews out to a number of incidents, and worked hard to provide advice to many members of the public who called to report flooding outside of their homes.

Many drivers found themselves stranded in deep water in parts of Essex last night, requiring assistance from firefighters to be led to safety. Essex Fire also provided a pumping service at a number of properties in South Essex, including Grays, where floodwater was invading peoples' homes.

Fire crews across Essex continued to work throughout the night, in partnership with Essex Police, UK Power Network, Highways Agency, Anglian Water, local authorities and the Environment Agency.

Essex Fire and Rescue Service Delivery Command Manager, James Taylor, said: "Our control team were inundated with calls from around 10:30pm, and have worked tirelessly through the night to offer advice to the local community.

"Crews have been deployed to numerous incidents and have worked hard under challenging circumstances – not only the nature of the incidents they've attended, but just getting to the scenes in adverse weather conditions has been a challenge.

"A huge 'well done' to our control team and our crews, particularly those in the south of Essex where we saw high volumes of incidents!"