A devastated couple were forced to dig trenches on their daughter’s birthday after draining issues plunged gardens underwater.

Families say outdoor areas in Cherry Drive, Canterbury, were hit by torrents cascading from drains and bellowing up from a manhole.

Southern Water announced it is investigating a potential system blockage while residents work to prevent damage after “waterfalls” encroached on a shed.

One couple told KentOnline 15 homes are seeing water gushing into their green spaces, whereby they themselves bought 350 kilos of sand to help protect their property.

June Mitchell, 79, says she has lived with the manhole near her flowerbeds for 16 years without an issue.

But the sheer volume of water pumping through the suspected faulty drain the past week has caused even her neighbours to become flooded, she explains.

“We phoned up Southern Water straight away when we saw it in the middle of last week,” she said.

“We thought it was just in our garden but then on Thursday, a few neighbours knocked on our door to say their garden was also flooded.

“Someone also came up on Sunday, the man who lives right at the very bottom of the hill to say he’d been affected.

“I didn’t realise it had got that far to be honest, and we were concerned about next door because they’ve got good things inside their garden shed. Our shed’s a bit wet but it’s only garden stuff in there so it should be fine.

“It’s just going to keep flowing until it’s repaired but they said they would come out in five days because it was only affecting our garden – not our house.

“I haven’t seen or heard from anybody but they think the blockage is further down the hill and is coming out of the manhole cover in our garden.”

She said South East Water’s tests found the fluid was rainwater with a small percentage of chlorine.

“I would imagine it’s coming from the top of the hill where the water pump is,” she said.

“It then travels down here and is now overflowing because there’s a blockage somewhere.”

Neighbours Heejung Chung and husband Marcel Roth say they do not see this problem being fixed following a lack of communication from Southern Water.

“Two or three weeks ago we noticed a puddle on the floor inside our garden shed,” Mrs Chung said.

“We’ve never noticed this to happen before, and the shed has been there for about seven years.

“Last week we started seeing puddles in the garden which we’ve never seen before either – we’ve lived here for 11 years.

“We then saw absolute waterfalls coming into our garden and realised our shed was flooded.”

Mr Roth, an audio software engineer, uses the electricity powered outbuilding as a recording studio, and says they managed to quickly move all the music equipment out.

However, he says the have not had time to test whether any damage has been caused.

Mrs Chung added they notified Southern on Thursday but felt phone operators sounded scripted.

“They said if after three hours of the rain stopping the water didn’t stop, then we should call them again and they may come out,” she said.

“On Friday, there was a dry spell but water kept gushing out so we contacted them again. They’ve not come out and we’ve heard nothing from them.”

In a bid to defer the water away from their garden and into the land which is behind their house, the pair dug trenches. They also bought sandbags to put around their shed to stop the water from getting in.

“The amount of water that was gushing in was quite extreme that our garden was flooded, but also our neighbour's garden was flooded. It was just going to be a domino effect,” Mrs Chung, who is a professor of sociology at the University of Kent, said.

“Our neighbours then told us they had also called Southern Water and were told the problem hadn’t been reported to them so they hadn’t logged our complaint on Thursday.

“My husband and I had two days where we couldn’t work and instead had to dig trenches and buy 350 kilos of sand to cover our garden house. We’re here doing our best to stop the water and they’re doing nothing.

“We’re talking about financial burdens but the emotional damage is immeasurable. It was our daughter’s birthday on the weekend but we couldn’t celebrate because we had to dig trenches – it absolutely ruined it.

“Our garden shed might also need to be demolished because of all the damage.”

As of Monday, water was still gushing out of the manhole.

The residents fear the problem will only get worse as more rain is expected to hit the county this week.

“It’s still gushing out and because it hasn’t rained for a while, the stream is a bit weaker than it was but I’m really fearful of what will happen to our neighbours at the bottom of the hill and it’s meant to rain more this week,” Mrs Chung said.

“We don’t see this issue being solved. We’re all at a complete loss over what to do, it seems like we citizens are expected to fend for ourselves.”

A Southern Water spokesperson has confirmed the problem is being investigated.

South East Water distribution manager Adam Newbury added: "We visited the site last week after receiving reports of a leak affecting properties on Cherry Drive, Canterbury.

"Our investigations found the water is coming from two drainage systems which are blocked due to heavy rainfall.

"We have checked our pipelines and water meters close to this water and have found no leaks."