Several key A-roads were closed, streets flooded with sewage, villages left without power and railway lines closed by landslips as Storm Henk and a deluge of rain caused widespread disruption late last week.
The A31 Alton Road was closed for a second time in 12 hours on Friday because of flooding between Bentley and Farnham’s Coxbridge roundabout. The five-hour closure from 10am to 3.30pm came after the road was closed by police on Thursday evening after as many as 20 vehicles became stranded in flood water.
Heavy rain – as much as 37mm according to one amateur meterologist in Farnham – fell on ground already saturated by water during Storm Henk just three days earlier.
This caused flood water so deep it spread across the A31 central reservation in some places. One woman crashed her motorbike in water that reached “knee level” on the A31 opposite Farnham House Hotel, but escaped injury.
Many other local roads were rendered impassable by flooding, including the A325 between Bordon and Farnham, the A339 from Alton to Basingstoke, and the A272 Winchester Road near Petersfield. One of two lanes were also closed on the A3 between A272 (Petersfield) and the B3006 junctions in both directions.
Fallen trees proved a hazard on many roads, with several trees having to be removed on the A31 between Farnham and Alton, and another blocking the A325 near Birdworld between Farnham and Bordon.
And up to two inches of gravel was strewn across Crondall Lane in Farnham.
Hundreds of homes in Elstead were left without power on Thursday night as a result of fallen power lines.
Haslemere’s Christmas tree was another victim in the town’s High Street, collapsing under the weight of the rain and winds.
Photographs showed Alton’s Mill Lane and Omega Park industrial sites under water after the River Wey seemingly burst its banks.
Fences were also washed away in Sheet after the Ashford Stream burst its banks, with homeowners saying they had “never seen anything like it”.
A long-time resident of Lymington Bottom in Four Marks, also said they had never seen such flooding “in nearly 50 years of living in Four Marks” and Holybourne locals shared similar sentiments.
The water looked so deep under the railway bridge in Lower Weybourne Lane, Farnham, that sea cadets from the nearby TS Swiftsure must have been tempted to get their sailing dinghies out.
But there were numerous reports of good Samaritans bringing 4x4s to the rescue of people stranded in the floods.
The disruption extended into the weekend for rail travellers as a landslip close to Buriton tunnel meant rail services between Petersfield and Havant were suspended for parts of last weekend.