THE wettest April on record took its toll on communities across West Somerset as torrential rain in the final days of the month and into the start of May left a number of homes and businesses under water.

The threat of flooding was a real fear for many more, with crews from the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service called to properties in Wheddon Cross, Lydeard St Lawrence, Bishops Lydeard, Stogursey, Roadwater and Washford following a day and night of almost non-stop rain last Sunday.

Riverside properties in Roadwater received a 4am call from the Environment Agency on Monday, alerting homeowners that the Washford River was in danger of bursting its banks.

Resident Susan Taylor acted by getting up to check her dining room - the lowest room in the house.

The carpet was dry and she could not see any sign of water coming into the property.

"I opened the window and the river level was in line with the wall that divides the river from the house," she said.

"At that stage, I didn't think it was necessary to panic as this had happened many times before and the water usually flowed safely by."

Susan went back to bed but within an hour the situation had changed dramatically and the water had begun leaking into the dining room, heralding the start of a day-long battle to save as many of the family belongings as possible.

"I woke my son Charlie and the two of us tried to do what we could to move things away from the water," she said.

"But the water level kept rising and it seemed like we were fighting a losing battle."

Luckily, Susan's tight-knit family live nearby and were soon on the scene.

"Within no time and without even having to ask, we were joined by many family members - firstly my brother-in-law Steve and my father Patrick and then many more relatives and friends turned up to help salvage what we could.

"We put furniture and electrical equipment onto blocks and logs but the water level was soon higher than that."

With the ground floor of the house under around a foot of water, the family had to call on local feed merchants Badcock and Everard in Washford for help.

Without hesitating, the company agreed to loan some wooden pallets, which had to be stacked four-high to keep the furniture out of the dirty, muddy water swirling around the property.

Local fire crews were also called out to try and pump the water away - "But it was coming back in as quickly as we could get it away," said Susan.

Water levels continued to rise throughout Monday but by the following morning and with less rainfall than predicted, they finally began to drop.

"My father has lived in the village all his life and he said he hadn't seen the water level that high since the 1960s," said Susan, who could face months out of her property while it dries out.

"My family were just wonderful and I'd like to thank them all for their help and support - many of them spent all day trying to help me.

"And I'd also like to help the fire service for doing what they could to help."

Community spirit and more than a touch of self-help also saved some properties in Station Road, Washford, from flooding.

Although fire crews were called to pump out water from three houses - some more than once - after a culvert became blocked, residents acted to prevent further damage.

Brendon Service Station owner Nick Priddy, fellow resident Adam Dowdle and others cleared the culvert - in a field behind the garage - when the problems first emerged early on Monday.

"It was full of debris - hedge cuttings, twigs, everything," said Nick.

The culvert, around 200 yards long and between eight and ten feet deep, was hosed clean but with the heavy rainfall continuing, it soon became blocked again.

"The water was constantly backing up - it just had nowhere to go," said Nick.

"We had a bit of water in the garage and one house had more than two feet but we knew more houses would be affected if we didn't do something."

The self-help team cleared out the debris again and this time improvised by finding a mesh grill to put across the open end of the culvert.

"We had to use a bit of initiative but it finally stopped the debris getting in and hopefully saved some properties from being flooded."

Torre Fishery manager Richard How also faced a worrying 24 hours as water levels rose in the feeder ponds at the Roadwater business.

"The river broke its bank along a 12-ft stretch at one point and we were getting really worried," he said.

"The water just kept on rising and we were able to lift the weirgate to help the situation a bit."

Luckily, none of the 100,000 trout, used to supply reservoirs at Clatworthy, Hawkridge, Wimbleball and others across the country, were lost.

"It was a worrying time but all we could really do was monitor the situation," said Rob.

"I've been here 12 years and the water levels were the highest I've ever seen."

Figures released by the Met Office this week declared last month the wettest April in the UK for more than 100 years.

Liscombe on Exmoor saw the most rainfall with 273.8mm of rain - more than three times the 86.4mm average.

And on Tuesday, the observation site had recorded the most rainfall in the country over the previous 24 hours - 32mm.

Motorists were urged to drive with care as both main roads into West Somerset - the A358 between Williton and Taunton and the A39 from Minehead to Bridgwater - flooded at a number of locations on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the West Somerset Railway managed to keep trains running despite a number of landslips and flooding along the line.

The worst affected was Williton Station where by 3pm on Sunday there was around a foot of water.

A WSR spokesman said there were also problems at the bridge at Sampford Brett but no significant damage was suffered anywhere along the line.

"The timetable went a bit awry on Sunday but the trains kept running," he said.

On Monday, every river in Somerset was on flood alert but by Tuesday morning many of the warnings had been scaled back.

Although rain continued to fall yesterday (Thursday), the majority of rivers and streams across West Somerset had been taken off flood alert, with just the Upper Exe from Exford to Exebridge, Rivers Barle, Lyn, Mole and Bray, tributaries and coastal streams from Combe Martin to Lynton remaining on the lowest warning.