EVEN horse power of the four-legged variety would have been reluctant to tackle a deep flood under a railway bridge at the Allbrook area of Eastleigh yesterday.

One car driver who tried his luck ended up soaking wet and with a very soggy BMW.

Allbrook Hill had been closed to through traffic for several days because of water forming a lake under the bridge, which carries the main Southampton-London railway line.

But Tuesday night's torrential rain added to the problem, as the unfortunate driver found to his cost at about 8.10am yesterday.

"I went through it fine last night with no problems and I didn't think I would get stuck today," said the young motorist who declined to give his name.

"The car floated as I went through, and lost traction. We were stuck under the bridge in the deepest part."

The motorist, whose vehicle was rescued by two men in a Land Rover, said he waded out of his stricken vehicle and estimated the water was four feet deep.

Meanwhile, watermeadows in the area were under several feet of water as the River Itchen and Itchen Navigation failed to cope.

Elsewhere in Eastleigh borough there were more reports of roads being impassable due to flooding.

A borough council spokesman said there were problems at Netley's Grange Road between Portsmouth Road and Woolston Road, at Shop Lane, and Grange Road between Ingleside and the Roll Call public house.

Bubb Lane at West End was flooded between Burnetts Lane and Berrywood Farm, but was passable with care.

Residents in Bishopstoke Road, Bishopstoke; Burnetts Lane, West End and at Hamble Lane and The Broadway, Hamble, had requested sandbags.

But the council received only one report of a home being flooded. That was at Satchell Lane, Hamble, where the water run-off from the old Hamble airfield was thought to have been responsible for the problem.