ROADS, schools, shops and restaurants fell victim to the weather as the county was hit by freak summer storms.

The heavy rainfall caused Herefordshire Council to issue several flood warnings on Monday and take the unprecedented step of setting up a phone hotline for worried residents and drivers.

The north of the county was the worst affected and Leominster's retained firefighters worked around the clock helping people trapped by rising floodwaters.

Major flooding occurred on the town's outskirts on the A49 where crews pumped flood water from The Wharf House, opposite the Hay Lane turn. As the pumping operation continued for six hours, a series of road rescues were mounted outside.

Eleven people were rescued from cars and helped through waist-high flood waters surging over the trunk road.

Fire crews were also called to pump out cellars of houses at Kimbolton and Ivington, where flooding was affecting electrical systems.

They were again needed in the early hours of Tuesday morning to rescue people trapped on the upper floor of Toll House, near the River Teme at Little Hereford, as water rose to four feet.

Trapped travellers were also rescued from cars in Brimfield, near Tenbury Wells, and from a lorry stranded on the Leominster to Tenbury Wells road.

Over in Bromyard, the emergency services were kept busy after water covered the Stourport Road on Monday morning.

Justin Sullivan, crew manager with Bromyard Fire Service, arrived at 8.30am to find two people trapped in their cars with flood water up to the vehicles' doors.

He said: "We rescued one person and walked him out and for the other one we had to put a ladder to his car window before he was guided to safety by a crew member.

"There were still vehicles attempting to cross while we were there so we asked the police to come down and close the road to prevent other vehicles becoming stuck in flood water at that point."

A few miles south, the heavy rains caused the village school to close in Bosbury.

Headteacher Liz Farr said that even though the school was unaffected, the village itself was inaccessible.

Less rain fell in Hereford but there was still enough to close the underpass near Eign Gate on Monday morning.

City firefighters were needed in Eign Street a few hours earlier when a blocked drainpipe caused a ceiling to collapse on an Eign Street flat.

Last week, two hours of continued rain closed a Hereford restaurant and street.

Water leaked into Doodies and fears that the walls and windows were buckling under pressure led to St Owen Street being closed.

Doodies has now reopened but building work will need to take place to repair the damage caused.

And the inconvenience caused by the weather looks set to continue into the weekend.

A barbecue organised by Hereford Lions Clubs on Saturday to raise money for the Renton Appeal is just one event postponed due to the threat of flooding.

The annual event will now take place on August 18.