TORRENTIAL rain was bringing travel chaos and the risk of flooding to swathes of Hampshire.

Weather experts today predicted the county was due to be hit by up to 60mm of rain.

Many roads were flooded and train services were affected mainly in the south of the county, in the New Forest and around Fareham.

Among the many roads closed was Hurst Lane, Marwell, near Colden Common, Poles Lane in Otterbourne, Parsonage Lane in Durley and the fords at Foxes Lane and Church Lane in Wellow.

Hampshire firefighters dealt with at least 20 call outs overnight due to the floods.

The Environment Agency has issued an amber alert for King’s Somborne and Little Somborne near Winchester, which it says are at risk of groundwater flooding.

Hampshire Constabulary were advising drivers to keep a safe distance, use headlights where appropriate and not to attempt to cross deep flood waters.

Southwest Trains said no train services operating between Bournemouth and Brockenhurst and buses were replacing train between Fareham and Eastleigh. Disruption was expected to last through the morning.

A fire service spokesman said as heavy rain continues, the "main concern" is people not properly assessing the dangers. The Environment Agency has this morning warned it takes just two feet of water to float a car.
The fire spokesman said: “Just don't risk it. If it's particularly fast-flowing and deep, you can get washed away.

“These fords and flood water is only going to get worse this morning, and there's just no need to get stuck.”

A spokeswoman for the SWT-Network Rail Alliance, said: "We apologise to our customers for the disruption to their services this morning. We are working hard to restore services in these areas as quickly as possible, although unfortunately we do expect services to be disrupted throughout the morning."