Hospital patients had to be transferred across county after rain water leaked through to operating theatres.

While overnight rain and flooding caused problems over much of Kent on Monday morning, among the worst hit were patients at Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells.

Five patients had to be transferred to Maidstone Hospital after heavy rain burst a water drainage pipe and leaked through a flat roof, flooding two orthopaedic theatres.

A leak above the main Accident and Emergency reception meant a temporary reception had to be set up elsewhere.

Kent Fire and Rescue were called to the hospital just after 11.15am and hospital staff used heavy duty suction cleaners to clear the water.

A spokesman for the hospital said the situation had been caused by a “freak rainstorm”, but said the main theatres were not affected and emergencies were seen as normal.

He added: “Staff acted swiftly and to their credit kept disruption to a minimum for our patients.”

Elsewhere in the county, fire crews were called out to more than 80 reports of flooding, most of them in Tonbridge and Rochester between 11pm on Sunday and 10am on Monday .

A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue said home owners who had been away overnight had returned on Monday morning to find cellars or basement rooms under two to three inches of water.

Maidstone had escaped relatively unscathed.