TORRENTIAL rain is causing travel chaos across Hampshire today.

The downpours have seen police in the county attend numerous car crashes and they have issued a warning to motorists to drive carefully.

And it has also affected people trying to get in to their workplaces and schools.

Parent Tina Broom told how her two daughters, aged 13 and 15, were among around 20 children stranded on Wildern Lane, in Hedge End unable to get across flood water caused by severe rain this morning as they made their way to Wildern School.

Her daughter called the school saying she could not get across the ankle high water without ruining her shoes, so staff came out to help and put down crates to provide a passage across the flooding, which affected those coming from the Ratcliffe Road direction.

The mother-of-six, from Hedge End, said she had been told that even as staff tried to help the children cars continued to go past on the road making the crates rock and the children felt unsafe.

She said a better solution might have been to have taken the children through the estate and round to the other side where there was no flooding.

She remembers flooding issues at the school before but said she had never heard of anything like this.

Tina, a waitress, called on the council to do more to prevent such flooding issues on the roads as she said she had been sent a picture that was taken of the same issue at the same spot in 1979.

“It needs to be sorted out,” said the 36-year-old.

Hampshire Roads Policing has urged motorists to drive to the conditions, a tweet sent out by them this morning said: “Very wet driving conditions this morning please remember to keep your distance and use your lights if necessary.”

Wildern Lane in Hedge End is currently flooded - making the school run to Wildern School hard for pupils.

Bus services in the county are also affected by the downpours and Bluestar has reported that due to 'bad weather' and roadworks they are facing delays of 20 minutes.