A man who suffers with rheumatoid arthritis which affects his joints ignored the pain and single-handedly saved his street from flooding – all with a broomstick.

Peter Cunningham, from Folkestone, has been described as the "Russell Road hero" by his children.

The 38-year-old intervened when yesterday's deluge led to a flash flood in his street, as heavy rain hit Kent.

He said: "Three years ago we had this torrential downpour, a freak storm, which blocked and completely swamped the whole road, and luckily enough my first instinct was to go out there with a broom and unblock the drains.

"Yesterday when I saw the rain come down I kind of had a flashback of what happened previously so I said to my wife, 'I'm going to have to take the pain and get out there' because were going to get flooded again otherwise."

Peter, who lives in Russell Road with his wife and three of his children, went and got the same broom from three years ago and managed to clear two drains that were getting blocked.

He said that the flood was up to his door, and the last time it happened there was quite a lot of damage caused, so he knew he had to act quickly.

After he cleared the drains, one of his neighbours came out and thanked him for making sure their property did not get flooded.

His arthritis means Peter has a lot of pain in his joints, and uses crutches and a walking stick, so bending down to get the broom right down the drain was extremely painful for him.

Despite this, he said: "I'd rather have gone through the pain than suffer not being able to sit downstairs with the children and play on the carpet because it's been flooded.

"I was grateful that I got out there and was able to clear all of the drains again, and luckily I saved it before we got drenched and damaged floors again.

"A lot of the neighbours joked and said 'return of the broom, the hero strikes again'."