TORRENTIAL rain flooded homes in Malvern during a severe thunderstorm.

Firefighters were called to properties all over town on Wednesday night to pump out water.

Many homes were left without power until the floodwater was gone and electrical systems could be dried out.

One of the worst affected areas was in Belmont Road, where Dave and Amanda Mason watched in horror as two-and-a-half feet of water poured into their basement living room.

Firefighters from Ledbury spent almost three hours pumping water from the house, as Malvern firefighters were busy elsewhere.

Mr and Mrs Mason have endured their home being flooded for 13 years. Wednesday was a particularly bad example, but their basement floods almost every time it rains.

Their son Morgan, aged nine, has Asperger's Syndrome and is sensitive to change, so the couple are unable to move house.

"It's hard to explain to him that we want to move. I put my children first, so we're in a Catch 22 situation," said Mr Morgan

Although he and his wife have been complaining for more than a decade, and various work has been undertaken, the authorities have still not fixed the drainage problem.

Reader Andy Hughes took pictures of the floods in Eastward Road.

"Every house in Eastward road was affected," he said. "The water was like a torrent, moving at quite a pace."

With the sewerage system unable to cope, foul water flooded into Mr Hughes' garage and back garden.

Another property in Belmont Road had its basement door blown off by the force of the water.

Firefighters also pumped water from homes in Quest Hills Road, Jamaica Road, Ranelagh Road, Tan House Lane, Cowleigh Road, Upper Howsell Road, Farley Road and Bosbury Road, along with a house in Bastonford.

Reader Vik Young took pictures of the flooding in the Link Top area.

"It was the worst rain I've ever seen," he said. "The main Leigh Sinton Road was like a river and Tan House Lane had water coming down it like a rapid.

"Cars were stuck and people were stranded and other people came out of their houses in amazement at the sheer volume of rain."

Severn Trent spent £3.5 million in 2004 improving the ability of Malvern sewerage system to cope with flooding. A spokesman said the only street which has Severn Trent sewers on the list that firefighters visited was Farley Road.

"Some of the flooding may be due to highway drainage problems or run off water from the hills. You could also put this down to exceptional weather," she said. "It does appear as if the work we did either wasn't connected to these floods or has perhaps stopped problems in other areas.

"We haven't had reports of flooding, probably because they weren't our sewers. If we did have sewer flooding we would treat it as a priority."

District and county councillor Clive Smith said anyone who had a problem with flooding should contact their ward councillor, who could arrange for the Highways Partnership to investigate the drainage infrastructure to make sure there were no blockages or collapsed sections.

"In fairness, last night was a freak storm," he said.

n Malvern weather recorder Frank Hill said around 15mm of rain fell in 25 minutes during Wednesday night's storm. Mr Hill said the amount was not that great, although he had not yet compiled final figures.

"If there was flooding it was just the intensity of the rain over a short period," he said.