Flash floods swept along the Sussex coast yesterday, bringing chaos to shops and homes.

East and West Sussex fire brigades took more than 60 calls in an hour as waves of water washed through the streets.

Worthing bore the brunt of the freak storm, which lasted for more than two hours and left the town centre under water.

More than a dozen shops were forced to close as floodwater cascaded down Montague Street, Chapel Road and South Street.

Within minutes of the heavens opening, shoppers were wading through up to 1ft of water as drains failed to cope with the torrential downpour.

The Iceland freezer centre, WH Smith, Worthing Job Centre, the Blu Pizza restaurant and Tiny Computers in South Street all closed during the chaos, as did the Guildbourne Centre shopping precinct.

Superdrug in Montague Street was awash, but Marks and Spencer opposite escaped with only minor damage, although its loading bay was flooded to a depth of 2ft.

At the Centre Stage hairdressing salon in South Street, towels were packed around the glass front door.

Job Centre staff tried in vain to stem the tide with newspapers, but their offices were saturated by several inches of water. The stockroom at WH Smith was flooded and staff squelched about with plastic bags on their feet.

Outside, shoppers waded through the puddles in bare feet.

At Yates's Wine Lodge in Chapel Road, barmen put a bucket in the bar when water came through the ceiling.

Nearby, shoppers watched in amazement as water from overflowing mains jetted 6ft into the air.

Firefighters pumped water out of basements and deployed sandbags.

Argus weatherman Ken Woodhams said two-thirds-of-an-inch of rain fell in half an hour, adding: "You only get rainfall like that once every five years. It was a major downpour."