TORRENTIAL rain caused widespread flooding across West Devon and East Cornwall on Friday as fire and rescue teams battled through the night to save property. Tavistock, Lydford, Chilsworthy and Gunnislake were some of the worst affected areas with homes flooded and people trapped in cars. Firefighters from Okehampton spent ten hours at 'a major incident' in Lydford where the basement of a house was flooded to a depth of six feet and rising water in the garden was threatening to enter neighbouring homes. Station officer Ian Donovan said his two crews worked 'jolly hard' to pump the water out and build dams and dig through a hedge-bank to divert water away from the properties. He said: 'It was extremely difficult to keep the level of water down — a huge amount was coming down the road and off the fields. 'Eventually, it eased off but the situation was certainly helped by diverting the water.' Callington Fire Station officer Kevin Rookley said he had never seen so much water running down the road in Chilsworthy: 'We could not divert it because of the sheer amount of water — thankfully, it went off in different directions and did not all converge in one area or we would have had a major incident on our hands. 'Quite a lot of property was damaged and hedges washed out. We were called to pump out water from a house near St Dominick, the cellar at Albaston Post Office and a property at St Mellion.' Meanwhile, Tavistock fire and rescue teams were busy dealing with drivers trapped by flood water and were called to flooding at the Buccaneer pub and Doyle's newsagent at Gunnislake and Drake House in Tavistock. Landlady of the Buccaneer Gill Pengelly said had it not been for customers and neighbours the effect would have been 'devastating.' 'We had youngsters from eleven upwards brooming the water through — they were fantastic,' she said. 'The water came from right at the top of the hill and it was like a domino effect going through properties.' Two people and three vehicles were rescued from three feet of flood water on the old A30 at Bridestowe. One person was rescued from a car at Gulworthy, four cars were stuck in floodwater on the Pitland Corner to Chillaton Road, Tavistock, and fire crews from Tavistock and Okehampton rescued two people from a car near the Dartmoor Inn at Lydford.