Downpours shower region with chaos

Torrential downpours wreaked havoc across the West Midlands, resulting in power cuts, flooded houses and gardens and burst river banks.

In Stafford, fields were submerged after the River Penk burst its banks overnight near the Knights BMW garage on the A34.

The River Sow through the town centre was also running dangerously high, threatening to spill over into the neighbouring Victoria Park, which was already waterlogged.

Environment Agency officials spent the night putting up flood defences.

These were put in along the River Severn at Bewdley, as the water level rose rapidly.

Residents along Severnside North and Severnside South said the waters rose at an alarming rate and officials arrived on the scene at 11pm.

Fire crews were called out to the A451 near Dunley overnight after a section of the road flooded and a Volkswagen van was reported stuck in the rising water.

Power to homes in Wednesbury, Great Bridge, Tipton and Erdington in Birmingham was cut last night after a sub station was flooded.

Policeman Warren Archer, aged 42, from Tierney Drive, Great Bridge, said: "It was awful to be honest, it was off for a few hours and no one really knew what was happening, all my neighbours were out on the street just wondering what was going on. All the burglar alarms were going off."

In Walsall, the lashing rain put paid to work on the borough's new ring road.

Councillor Anthony Harris, cabinet member for transport, said: "Concrete cannot be mixed, block paving cannot be carried out and road surfacing cannot be executed."

There were deep puddles along the A449 into Wolverhampton, and the A34 in Huntington was closed both ways between Limepit Lane and Lowland Road early this morning because of flooding, but was reopen by 8.30am.

The storms also claimed the life of a 17-year-old girl after the 4x4 she was travelling in overturned and plunged into a swollen river in a remote area of forestry in Powys, Wales.

By Elizabeth Joyce