A major clear-up operation is underway today after torrential rain brought flooding to Sussex.

Dozens of elderly residents, many in wheelchairs, were rescued from a Crawley nursing home after a nearby river burst its banks on Saturday night.

Firefighters were inundated with calls to flooded cellars and basement flats in the north of the county.

Two policemen had to be rescued from their patrol car after it got stuck in flood water near Petworth.

The A259 at Rottingdean, Brighton, was closed for a time on Saturday after a blocked drain flooded the coast road.

Emergency services said nobody was killed or seriously injured in Sussex by the floods and strong winds.

However, a 22-year-old woman died in Dorset after her car crashed off the A35 at Poole as storms lashed other parts of the country.

The body of an 80-year-old man was also discovered in a car submerged in floodwater at Martock, Somerset, on Saturday.

More than 25 flood watches were issued by the Environment Agency for rivers across Sussex and the southern region as up to 2.5ins of rain fell in 24 hours.

The River Mole burst its banks, sending up to two feet of water pouring into The Gables nursing home at Ifield Green, Crawley.

Staff took most of the 47 residents, some suffering from shock, to a dry room at the back of the large, detached home as firefighters from Crawley fire station began a rescue operation. West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service sent six fire engines, a rescue unit and an inflatable boat to the scene on Saturday night. Officers used inflatable rescue rafts to help get residents to safety. The specially designed rafts allow rescuers to ferry people in wheelchairs or on stretchers to dry land.

Al Green, a crew commander at Crawley fire station, said: “When we arrived the staff had taken most of the residents to a safe, dry room at the back of the property.

“They were very calm and we were able to lead them to safety with the help of staff at the home. Two residents had to be carried out through the flood water because of where their rooms were situated.”

The evacuated residents were taken by minibus and ambulance to another care home in Warninglid, near Haywards Heath.

Craig McMillan, manager at The Gables, said: “All the services who turned up to help us out were fantastic and were very well organised.” West Sussex Fire and Rescue received 150 calls to flooding incidents on Saturday, including 41 to flooded homes.

Firefighters from Burgess Hill pumped more than 8,000 litres of water from the cellar at St George’s Retreat care home in Ditchling Common, near Burgess Hill.

Two red-faced police officers had to be rescued from their car after they drove into 3ft of flood water near Petworth on Saturday. The officers, who have not been named, got stuck after the car’s engine stalled.

Sussex Police said they had dozens of calls about flooded roads. The A259 coast road was closed for a time at its junction with Roedean Road, Brighton, after a blocked drain left it under a foot of water on Saturday.

And flats were damaged after rainwater poured through the roof of a building in Marine Square, Brighton.

The Environment Agency said up to 2.7in of rain fell in West Sussex and up to 1.5in in East Sussex.

Lucy Harding, from the agency, said: “We issued 25 flood watches and warnings on rivers throughout the county on Saturday. As far as we know none of them burst their banks and caused direct flooding to property, apart from the incident at the nursing home in Crawley.”

She said by lunchtime yesterday river levels in most of the county were falling and with little or no rain expected yesterday the danger of further flooding had receded.

Met Office forecaster Byron Charlcraft said: “The average rainfall for the whole of December in West Sussex is about 100mm. To have 69mm in places in just one day is unusual.”