Heavy rains have brought flooding to several parts of Medway, especially the Hoo Peninsula.

It was literally all hands to the pumps at the Fenn Bell pub at St Mary Hoo as flood waters swept in.

Customers and staff rallied round to help landlady Sue Button and her husband Den keep the waters at bay.

Sue and a member of her kitchen staff Julie Humphries, together with neighbours spent two hours scooping up water into buckets as it oozed under the pub door.

Local man Kevin Kelly drove all the way to Gravesend for a load of sandbags, which Den used to barricade the door.

Another neighbour Mr Eastwood brought a pump and generator to help keep the water levels down. The pub also had its own pump following a similar flood last year.

"The problem is that the Council doesn't keep the ditches clear so they can't cope when we get this volume of water," said Den.

"And the drains are never pumped out so they are just not up to the job."

Further on from St Mary Hoo the road to the Isle of Grain was completely cut by flood waters, making it a real island for several hours.

At Sycamore Road in Strood flood waters threatened to invade the home of Mrs Denise Manell. A small tanker was brought in to pump away some of the water but it was fighting a losing battle.

"I'm in my 50s and this has been happening every year since I was a teenager," said Mrs Manell. "But the Council does nothing to solve the problem.

"We only got the tanker because I phoned my local councillor John Avery."