SHOCKED homeowners woke during the night to find their houses filling with water and their street flooded.

Residents of Fawcett Fold, Westhoughton, have been left clearing up the debris of their belongings after the floodwaters swamped their homes in the early hours of yesterday.

Leah Scoble, 26, was surprised to hear banging on her door at around 3am and even more shocked to see neighbour Frank Knowles standing outside in the rapidly rising water.

After rushing downstairs, Ms Scoble, and her parents Louise and Matthew Welsby, found the water had begun to fill the ground floor of their home, tripping the electricity and damaging flooring and furniture.

“It was very scary and we’ve never experienced anything like that before”, said Ms Scoble, who works as a financial advisor.

“It’s something you may see in the news but not what you expect to happen to yourself.”

Three homes in Fawcett Fold were affected by the flooding, including Ms Scoble’s and Mr Knowles’ properties, as well as one other across the road.

Firefighters arrived at around 3.30am and spent around two hours pumping water from the homes after evacuating the residents over fears that electrical goods could be dangerous.

Mr Knowles and his wife Valerie are pensioners who have lived in the area for 30 years. They have been flooded on three occasions in the past 15 years and were previously told the issue was caused by a blocked culvert in the fields behind their home.

The pair spent Wednesday clearing the water-damaged furniture from their home and ripping up their carpet. They estimate that the floodwaters have cause thousands of pounds of flood damage.

Mrs Knowles says the repeated experiences have taught her to expect the floods.

“Everyone’s been fantastic afterwards but at the end of the day you don’t think that three times in a few years you will lose everything,” she said. “Last time it taught me a lesson, become a minimalist and I have not got as much to lose.”