Shocking footage has emerged of ceiling tiles collapsing and water pouring into a busy supermarket this afternoon.

The chaotic scenes inside Morrisons in Sutton Road, Maidstone, broke out at about 2.50pm as heavy rain hit the town.

Watch: Ceiling tiles collapse inside Morrisons in Sutton Road, Maidstone

Fire crews and paramedics were called to the store as shoppers were evacuated as the downpours continued.

Engineers are now on-site repairing the damage.

One customer who was in the supermarket at the time said: "Alarms were going off and they were evacuating the building but more and more of the ceiling tiles were coming down.

"The water was coming down with the celling pouring down inside."

In the video, shoppers and staff look on as water pours from the ceiling into the store, with tiles smashed on the floor.

Then customers can be heard gasping in horror as more tiles crash down into another aisle.

A shopper who was nearby is then seen running past the checkouts.

Another customer, Becky Seymour, said: "As someone that was standing at the checkout with the ceiling falling next to me, yes this was real.

"Emergency services did attend as someone was hurt. The whole ceiling down the middle of the store collapsed with the water flooding the store."

She said ambulances arrived within minutes, adding: "Staff did amazing once they evacuated - jumping in to help direct traffic and get people safely across the car park."

Megan Slater was also in the store as the chaos unfolded.

"Me and my younger sister were queueing at the chemist and the ceiling by the cafe came completely through and it was travelling over the tills and down towards the exit through the middle," she said.

"There were quite a few screams and then the alarm went off."

Barriers have been put up in front of the store and at the entrance to the car park.

There is no visible damage to the outside of the building.

A fire engine and a height vehicle were sent to Morrisons at about 3pm.

"On arrival crews found the store had been safely evacuated by the staff," a fire service spokesman said.

"Inside there was a partial collapse of several suspended ceiling tiles due to heavy rain. Crews carried out a check of the external roof and found no damage.

"There were no reported injuries and duty of care of the building was handed back to store manager."

A spokeswoman for Morrisons said: "This afternoon's flash floods have caused some damage to the store but engineers are on-site repairing the damage."

This is not the first time parts of the ceiling have collapsed at the store.

In 2014, tiles fell near the supermarket's bakery after water was seen leaking through roof panels.

KentOnline has asked the ambulance service to confirm if anyone was hurt.

More to follow.

Read more: All the latest news from Maidstone