Heavy storms brought flash floods to towns and villages across Sussex during the early hours of yesterday morning.

Fire crews were busy for most of the night dealing with floods in Bognor, Chichester, Eastbourne, Brighton and Haywards Heath.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service received 20 calls in half-an-hour, while East Sussex brigade dealt with 13 calls between midnight and 8am.

Firefighters were called to Haywards Heath Police Station where the ground and first floors were flooded with several inches of water after the drains became blocked.

Elsewhere in the town there was a foot of water in a cul-desac at Frankton Avenue, at the bottom of a hill, and the shop floor of Sainsbury's, off Bannister Way, was an inch under water.

A busy night in Bognor began at 10.30pm when a cellar at the Royal Oak Pub in Chichester Road was badly flooded.

A nursing home in Hastings Close called out the brigade after water started pouring in through the roof.

And in Saxon Close, Pagham, lightning hit a private detached garage and started a fire in the roof.

A West Sussex brigade spokesman said: "It all happened in the space of about 30 minutes with calls coming in from across quite a large area. We were pretty busy for a while and had to keep moving from one incident to another."

It was quieter in East Sussex but floods were reported in the centre of Eastbourne, along Terminus Road, Susan Road and Pevensey Road.

In Brighton, flood reports came in from private homes around Preston Circus.

At Brighton General Hospital rain flowing down a slope made its way under a door and into a cellar full of electrical equipment.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said the flood had only affected one block which houses a day surgery.

Fire officers warned the wet night could be the first of many and asked the public to be vigilant but sensible when calling for help.

Mark Ross, fire officer at Hayward's Heath, said: "Heavy downpours are forecast for the next couple of months so there will probably be quite a few flash floods like these.

"We ask the public to be vigilant and keep an eye on the situation but also to expect some flooding.

"Although we do attend flooding calls, when it is just a case of a floor needing to be mopped we can't do anything."

Lewes and Uckfield, the towns worst hit by the devastating floods of 2000, were unaffected by yesterday's downpours.