FIRE Crews spent much of last night (Sat) pumping out flooded homes in North Somerset following heavy rain.

Avon Fire and Rescue received about 80 calls for assistance from homes in Nailsea, while a road was blocked by a landslip in Portbury.

Heavy rainfall fell across the district throughout yesterday, leaving many areas badly affected.

Nailsea and Pill were the worst-affected, with homes in Heathfield Road, Southfield Road and Greenfield Crescent in Nailsea seeing the worst flooding problems yesterday evening.

Other roads badly affected include Church Lane, Coombe Road and Clarken Close.

On social networking site Twitter resident Andrew Snaden said: “Church Lane was a river.”

Fire crews from seven stations - with pumps coming from as far away as Bath - tackled the floods.

In a six-hour long operation that only ended at about 12.30am, crews pumped out the affected homes.

Meanwhile, the flooding had also caused a landslip in Failand Lane, Portbury, which saw soil, rocks and other debris including trees swept onto the road by the heavy rain and the run-off from surrounding fields.

A specialist rescue team scoured the landslip to check if anyone had been trapped underneath, but crews were able to confirm that no-one had been caught up in it.

A search and rescue vehicle, known as the bobcat, cleared the rubble with the help of a local farmer on his tractor.

A fire service spokesman said: “One family that were trapped in their property by the slides were able to get access to and from the lane.”

Heavy showers have been predicted for the area today, and there is also the possibility of thunder and hail.

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for rain for the West Country.

BBC Points West weatherman Ian Fergusson told the Times the floods were ‘caused by a small-scale but prolonged regeneration of thunderstorm cells in what is called a convergence zone. Same issues today.’