Several homes and businesses have started the big clear-up after being deluged in dramatic flash-floods.

Firefighters received more than 80 calls and attended more than 20 incidents on Saturday morning as Witham and Braintree were pummelled with several inches of rain and more than 250 lightning strikes in only four hours.

Crews were called to incidents in Hawthorne Rise, Powers Hall End and Lime Close, and residents in Spa Road reported torrents of water pouring down the playing fields, causing traffic chaos.

Newland Street was also flooded, leaving Witham Library closed for a week while all carpets are replaced.

Cars were left floating in several feet of water in Freebournes Road, forcing one driver to climb out of his sunroof to safety.

A fire crew was also sent to the Rivenhall Hotel at around 7.45am after a small part of the ceiling collapsed after being damaged by rainwater.

A former hospital building in Rayne Road, Braintree, was struck by lightning at around 8am and four crews worked to put out the fire.

Crews attended flooding incidents in Perryfields, Braintree, and one man was spotted kayaking down St John's Avenue.

Natalie Kennard, of Virgil Road, Witham, was one of many who had their homes flooded.

She said: "It was most definitely a shock.

"The water came in very quickly. I noticed it coming in at 6.30am and by 7.30am it was all in.

"We had neighbours in our garden bucketing it out through fence panel, trying to stop more coming into the house."

Tom Defty, of Essex Weather Centre said: “The storm built up and stayed stuck over Witham for about two hours.

“60mm of rain fell, 50mm of that in 90 minutes and that was why the A12 was badly affected because it was two or three feet deep in places, that amount of rain cannot soak away at all.

“At 5am the storm developed over West Mersea and started building back to Witham and Boreham with the heaviest rainfall over Witham.

“It was a very active storm, we were getting two or three lightning strikes a minute.

“We got 250 lightning strikes within 15 miles of Witham in two hours.”

He said the storm was caused by the sea breeze meeting northern winds and was part of a change in our climate.

He said: “It’s part of global warming.

“Braintree has had thunder storms for nine months.

“We can’t cope with the volume of rainfall coming down, the system we use at the Weather Centre to measure rainfall was off the scale.

“The number of properties struck by lightning in Essex is higher recently than any other time I have seen - we're getting one or two strikes each time.

 “Essex really struggles when there is a weather related emergency.

“We can give 15 minutes warning but people are in bed, no one knows until it is too late and then people are angry with us, with the local authority because their homes are getting flooded repeatedly and no one can help.

“People need to know where they can get sand bags from, just in case.”