Garden centre staff faced a huge clean-up job after extensive flooding left stock floating across the floor.

Longacres Bybrook Barn in Ashford was forced to close when heavy rain hit the area yesterday afternoon.

Shoppers say the water came in from the rear of the centre in Kennington, making its way across all departments.

Customers were evacuated but staff fully reopened the site this morning.

Claire Heasman from Godinton stopped by the garden centre's cafe after visiting Bybrook Cemetery when the rain started coming through the roof.

The 49-year-old said: "While we sat in there, it started raining really hard then it was coming through the roof and the doors.

"There was a waterfall effect at another side of the shop, then it was bubbling up through the floor.

"There was a tannoy asking people to leave; it was all in the space of 10 minutes."

The garden centre – which features a lake at the rear of the site – backs onto the M20 which was also badly affected by yesterday's floods.

The sheer volume of rain meant surface water covered the inside lane just before Junction 9, with queues forming on the London-bound carriageway.