Today (Friday) marks 20 years since homes and businesses in the Black Bull Road area was left devastated after flash flooding.

Residents endured one of Folkestone’s most worst cases of flooding on August 12, 1996.

Images captured by photographer Max Hess show cars submerged and the water level rising above ground-floor windows.

Furniture can also be seen floating near homes in Watkin Road and Pavilion Road.

About 200 properties were affected by the water which was up to two metres deep in places.

Four inches of rain fell in two hours during a violent storm that day.

Homes in the Foord Valley have always suffered from flooding because of the Pent Stream but this was aggravated by poor highway drainage and sewage systems in 1996.

Shepway District Council, at the time, implemented a £2m flood alleviation stream in 1998/99.

In November 2003 Southern Water completed a £5.5m scheme to modernise the sewage system. This included a 900-metre tunnel and an underground storage tank to hold up to 8,000 litres of water.

On Saturday the Environment Agency will be at Folkestone fire station in Park Farm Road from 10am until 2pm to explain how they deal with emergencies now.

It is just yards from where the floods took place two decades ago.

Luke Thompson, the flood resilience team leader, said: “We launched the new Pent Stream Flood Warning service in February 2016 to help the community understand when there is a risk of flooding.

“This event will help the community understand how the area responds quickly to rainfall and what they can do to be prepared for flooding.”

Representatives will be there to explain to residents why the nearby Pent Stream responds so quickly to rainfall and help them to prepare themselves in case flooding happens again.

There will also be information about the free warning service.