FIRE crews had to rescue a driver from their vehicle after it became trapped by flood water in Witham.

Maldon Road, in Witham, was badly flooded when heavy rain hit the whole of Essex on Wednesday.

Firefighters were called to a section of the road, that goes under the A12, at 8.14pm where two cars had been trapped by the water.

On arrival they found one person was trapped inside their vehicle. Crews managed to release them by 8.50pm.

Jennifer Harper’s vehicle broke down in the flood water when she was on her way back home to Witham after giving blood in Maldon.

She said: “We got to Maldon Road and there was a lot of traffic. We noticed the road was flooded and only one side of the road was being used.

“We didn't really know what to do to be honest but there were cars behind us so it wasn't like we could even turn around. We just had to go through it like everybody else.

“We got as close to the kerb as we could but we came out of the water and the car stopped dead.”

Miss Harper was forced to get out and push the vehicle with her partner through the water to somewhere safe where it could be recovered by the AA.

She said: “We are due to go on holiday on Saturday and have been told the car needs a complete new engine so we now have no car and it's going to cost a hell of a lot of money to get fixed.

“We assumed it was ok to take that route as other roads had been closed but not this one.

“Doing my good deed by giving blood has now cost me a minimum of £700 and we have now also got to find an alternative way to get to Cornwall.”

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service advise not to drive through flood water unless it is absolutely necessary.

Maldon Road was closed on Thursday morning until around 12.30pm the same day whilst Essex Highways engineers worked to clear flood water.