South East flooding: Flood warnings and road closures after heavy rain

The M23 in Sussex was closed and rail services have been disrupted by flooding caused by heavy rain.

The motorway was closed between junctions 10 and 11 but reopened at 08:00 GMT, while the rail line from Lewes to Haywards Heath was blocked.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said about 20 cars became stuck in flood water near Chichester.

Seventeen flood warnings have been issued for Sussex and several for Kent and Surrey.

A flood warning has been issued for the River Medway between Forest Row and Penshurst, and in Surrey for the River Mole between Charlwood and Hookwood, where the river level is expected to stay high throughout Thursday.

A flood warning for the River Teise in Lamberhurst and Goudhurst has now been lifted, but an alert has been issued for the river around Horsmonden to Yalding.

Flood alerts have been issued for the Lower and Upper River Medway in Kent.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said it responded to 70 incidents overnight.

The A27 has now reopened after being closed Eastbound between Emsworth and Fishbourne.

David Lewis from the Alfriston Emergency Group has been monitoring the River Cuckmere in East Sussex.

Speaking earlier on Thursday morning, he said the river had "risen about four feet since I last checked at 10 o'clock last night," adding that the river was "rising at 3mm a minute."

The Environment Agency has now said it expects level of the Cuckmere to begin to fall from about 15:00, although it will not be back to normal until Sunday, with any more rain next week creating the risk of more flooding.

Dale Poore from the Highway Infrastructure Services for East Sussex said with more than 50mm of rain falling overnight, work had been ongoing to try and control flooding.

He said: "We've had all of the crews out last night, crews with sandbags, crews clearing gullies, it's been a really, really busy night.

"When the rivers are high it doesn't matter how clear the drains are, there's nowhere for it to go because our water ends up in rivers and streams."

David Robinson, area flood risk manager for the Environment Agency, said: "Some of the smaller streams are going to drain down, some of the larger ones maybe yet to peak, and some of our rivers are tidal so it's going to take a while for that water to drain away.

"We're not looking at a significant amount of rain during the next couple of days so we're hoping catchments will have time to drain down."

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].