A newspaper office was hit by floods this week as torrential rain swept across East Anglia.

Staff at the head office of Archant Anglia, publishers of several weekly papers including The Royston Crow, Wisbech Standard and Hunts Post, had to battle a rising tide of water as it flowed through their Bevan Street headquarters in the coastal resort of Lowestoft.

The problem was discovered late in the afternoon by office manager Trevor Ayers, when most staff had left for the day.

He realised the surrounding streets were filling up with water as the town's 150-year-old sewer and drains system failed to cope.

Trevor said: "It was around 5.30pm that the rain became torrential.

"There were only five of us left as we watched the water cover the street and inch up the big front window of the office.

"We quickly started to get all our kit to the first floor and pull up the carpets, but within half an hour we had three inches of water throughout the office.

"We were then paddling around in our bare feet with hard brushes and mops trying to get the water back out of the building as fast as possible.

"The flood receded as fast as it had risen and by the time we left at 10pm the streets were clear again."

The office, staffed by 20 admin, accounting and payroll staff, has been hit by flooding twice before.

Production of the group's newspapers was not affected.

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