Mill Lane is home to about 20 cottages and houses and those located just yards from the River Rother were flooded after the river rose by about 5ft over the Christmas period. To make matters worse, the flood water got into the sewerage system, forced manhole lids open and sewage then mixed into the flood water.

Mill Lane resident Pamela Parry-Jones lives in a 200-year-old cottage over-looking the river and said:

"It was the worst I and other residents have ever seen.

"Water came in the back of my house, and my neighbours were flooded.

"I asked East Hampshire District Council for some sandbags, but they said I was on my own, apparently the council only gives sandbags on a discretionary basis to vulnerable properties,

"I would have thought being close to a river I was vulnerable – the council was no help at all. No one wants to take responsibility for helping."

The district council said it was sorry Mrs Parry-Jones' house flooded, but it was up to her to protect it. As the rainwater levels rose after Christmas the pressure on drains increased, eventually forcing manhole lids open. Residents say the elderly Mill Lane Southern Water sewage pumping station has been failing for years, and that repeated pleas to upgrade or renew it have been ignored.

Elaine Ballantine lives next to the pumping station and says her garden has been flooded with sewage eight times in seven years, but this Christmas was the worst. She said:

"The water covering the road was almost waist high and moving fast and the pumping station now has to cope with waste from more houses, and can't manage when there is heavy rain.

"Southern Water contractors clean up afterwards, but we shouldn't have to put up with sewage in our garden, its not a sanitary way to carry on."

A Southern Water spokesman said:

"The system was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of rain which has fallen in recent weeks.

"Normally, this soaks away but with the ground already saturated, it caused flooding," he added.