FLASH floods brought chaos and misery to the region this weekend after a dramatic thunderstorm shook many parts of Merseyside.
As the rest of the UK awoke to what was to become the hottest recorded day in history, several Merseyside streets were already under almost a foot of rainwater and sewage.
Hundreds of manhole covers were pushed from their fastenings as drains reached bursting point. Around a dozen homes suffered thousands of pounds worth of damage as raw sewage poured into basements in Waterloo yesterday morning.
Several homes were left without electricity after at least five buildings were hit by lightning on Wirral.
A chimney stack was destroyed by a lightning strike in Stubbs Lane in Nocturum, Wirral, and a whole street of manhole covers were pushed out of the ground in Coronation Road, Crosby.
A ceiling at a mental health ward in University Hospital Aintree collapsed under the weight of rain water over a treatment room, but no patients were hurt.
Merseyside Fire Service was inundated with more than 110 calls in two hours from 8.30am and water company United Utilities sent clean-up teams to 150 incidents throughout the day.
The worst hit areas were West Kirby, Heswall and Wallasey in Wirral, and Waterloo and Blundellsands in Sefton, where several streets were deep in a mixture of rainwater and sewage.
Popular broadcaster Debi Jones is one of several householders now planning to take action against United Utilities after a foul geyser of waste water flooded a basement flat at her home in Victoria Road West in Crosby.
But the worst damage was in Endsleigh and Holden Roads in Waterloo where six homes are today still being cleared after sewage seeped from the street into their basements.
It comes almost three years after United Utilities spent thousands of pounds on an emergency pumping station for the area following similar flood damage in July, 1999, and 2000.
Newsagent Tracy Grant, 37, a mother-of-one, told the Daily Post she would have to re-decorate her home in Holden Road due to flood damage for the third time in four years.
She said: "It has been an absolute nightmare, I saw the rain starting to pour down and I just knew we were going to get flooded again.
"We had some sandbags from last time it happened in 2000 and we put them across the doorway but it just started to seep in.
"The smell is absolutely horrendous, and my 10-year-old daughter is walking around in it. We shouldn't have to live like this in this day and age.
"Something has got to be done." Neighbour Tony Lomax, 55, from Holden Road, was also evacuated after flooding in 2000 and is now concerned the value of his property will decrease.
The removals company owner said: "United Utilities promised it wouldn't happen again when they fitted the pump, but it obviously isn't adequate to cope with this kind of downpour.
"It is absolutely horrendous. My home is filled with it, it has got into my car and my van"
A spokeswoman from United Utilities said an investigation would now be carried out to find out if pumps in three homes in Victoria Road West and a communal pump serving Endsleigh and Holden Roads failed.
She said: "We can only apologise to the families concerned and we do appreciate how unpleasant sewage flooding is.
"This storm was particularly heavy, and people have to appreciate it is very difficult for any system to cope with that. We will now investigate whether the pumps failed
"We cannot say if we would offer compensation until after the investigation, but we would only do so if we find our systems are at fault."
