TWO people trapped in a car surrounded by high floodwaters were rescued by a specialist emergency service team.

A trained water rescue team of firefighters saved two people stuck in a black Land Rover yesterday around 3.07pm in Mowden Hall Lane, Hatfield Peverel.

Essex County Fire and Rescue crews from Colchester and Leigh, alongside the urban search and rescue team all attended the incident.

Station Manager John Warmann has urged residents to avoid any area that is flooded.

He said: “Lots of roads across Essex are still flooded.

"Please find another route if a road or ford you come across is flooded. 

“If you drive through floodwater, you’ll risk your life and our lives when we come to rescue you and your vehicle could be severely damaged.

"Lots of car insurers won’t actually pay out if you intentionally drive through floodwater.”

This comes after Essex County Fire and Rescue's control room took more than 100 calls on Friday after the county was hit by heavy rain.

Crews attended eight separate incidents connected to flooding and rescued 13 individuals and one dog throughout the course of the day.

Many of the eight incidents involved rescuing drivers from trapped cars surrounded by floodwater.