Emergency 999 calls were going unanswered after heavy rain sparked a massive surge in calls.

Telecoms staff were unable to cope after torrential downpours lashed the South-East on Friday, meaning some 999 calls were not being picked up for almost a minute.

Police and ambulance bosses in Essex were forced to set up special back-up emergency numbers during the surge which lasted for about three hours.

A BT spokesman said: "BT had anticipated an increase in calls and had worked with emergency services to put in place extra resources and BT's emergency plans.

"However, during the two-hour morning peak, BT's 999 operators were sometimes unable to swiftly hand over to emergency service control rooms, which were for a short period overwhelmed by the call volumes and unable to answer quickly.

"This resulted in some backlog in BT's 999 centres, which in turn led to delays of 30 to 40 seconds before calls were initially answered."

Problems started at 11.15am on Friday but were said to have returned to normal by the early afternoon.