IT was a long hot summer in 1981. (From Warrington Guardian)

IT was a long hot summer in 1981.

But when the weather finally broke, the heavens opened and within hours Knutsford was flooded.

Residents of Heron Close were the worst hit by the violent storms that lashed the town all night.

Two children awoke to find their pet rabbit had drowned in its hutch.

And many families, like the Houghtons, suffered thousands of pounds worth of damage to their homes after downstairs rooms were submerged under 2ft of water. "The stench was terrible," Gaynor Houghton told the Knutsford Guardian in August 1981.

"It was just like a nightmare. We had no heating, no food, nothing. We were just deserted."

She faced a large bill after damp wallpaper peeled off the wall and her carpets and suite were ruined.

None of the items were insured.

Knutsford's firemen spent 20 hours helping to mop up after the wettest day in town for 100 years.

Manhole covers had been blown off by the force of water rushing through the drains.

The deluge also flooded the boiler house of Cranford Lodge Hospital making it impossible to do the laundry.

Beggarmans Lane, Valley Way and Overfields were badly affected by the torrential rain.

Moorside Road also flooded when the Moor Pool burst it banks.

In Rostherne Cecily Mill Lane was closed after a huge crater appeared and police estimated that more than six inches of water had washed over the A556.

Despite fields being flattened in the storms, farmers still hoped their crops could be saved.

WASH OUT: Heron Close resident Richard Burgess helps firemen to mop up in his kitchen after the storms of August 1981

SOAKED: Gaynor Houghton inspects the damage to her carpet after the downstairs of her home was submerged under 2ft of water

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.