EMERGENCY services had to be called to flooded homes and businesses in Irvine this weekend after a freak storm battered the town.

While neighbouring towns Kilwinning, Stevenston, Saltcoats and Ardrossan remained sunny and mostly dry, Irvine was pummelled with thunder, lightening and intense rainfall which fell so hard and fast that some of the town's drainage systems couldn't cope.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service were inundated with calls to assist in stricken homes and business which were being flooded by the rain on Saturday afternoon (June 25).

Between 3.20pm and 5.45pm fire crews attended nine separate incidents in the Townfoot, Pladda Avenue, Drummuir Foot, Ronaldsay Court, Sourlie Terrace, Dalmore Way, Chapelgill Place all in Irvine and in Old Auchans View in Dundonald.

Girdle Toll Bowling Club was also hit hard and had to cancel games as the green went underwater within an hour of the freak storm hitting.

The rain which fell was so intense that the main drainage systems in the street were unable to cope with the volume of water which then poured into houses and businesses across the area.

Station Manager Derek Davidson said: “The service had a sustained and very busy period of activity for two to three hours on Saturday afternoon which involved fire crews predominately from Kilmarnock, Ardrossan, Dreghorn, Kilwinning, and also as far away as Greenock, Pollock, and Cowcaddens.”

He added: “The calls were in relation to flooding within domestic and business premises due to the drainage infrastructure within the local area being unable to cope with the sheer volume of rain water which fell over a very short period of time. Soma areas in particular in Pladda Avenue in Irvine suffered localised flooding however the effects were much wider spread across the North Ayrshire area.

“The service mobilised crews from a number of fire stations to deal with the incidents and thankfully we were able to come to the assistance and deal with each affected property quickly and professionally and without any injuries being suffered to members of the public or operational crews.”