They should have been putting the final touches to their Christmas preparations, but for dozens of households across the West, a weekend of foul weather brought nothing but bad tidings.

Torrential rain lashed the region on Friday and Saturday, leaving many people to bale out flooded cellars and ground floors.

As rivers swelled and country roads became impassable, drivers were left stranded and at the mercy of the over-stretched emergency services.

Residents in Martock, Somerset watched in horror as the muddied waters rose rapidly, forcing many to flee their homes.

Traditional village scenes were flung into chaos as hedges, trees and cars became submerged.

In Bushton, Wiltshire, Natalee Hawkins, 23, corrwoke on Saturday in disbelief at the scene greeting her outside her home.

She said: "There's a tree you can see from our house and the water was right up to its branches. We couldn't believe it and then we heard this huge bang and saw that a car had driven straight into the flood water.

"There were two guys inside in their 50s and they couldn't get out – it was terrifying. People rushed out to try and help them and they were banging on the doors to get out. Eventually we got the doors open and they climbed onto the roof."

Miss Hawkins said the fire brigade were called and rescued the men but were unable to retrieve the vehicle.

Local farmer Dougie Knapp then arrived with his tractor and salvaged it.

Meanwhile home-owner Paul Eckardt saw four inches of flood water pour into his 17th-century Grade-II listed home in Croscombe, near Shepton Mallet.

The 56-year-old engineer said the water was run-off from fields following a massive downpour in the early hours of Saturday. He said: "I went to bed and it was very dry. I've been hit by floods before but I didn't put sandbags out because there was no warning. The next thing I knew, I could hear my neighbours moving about and I realised what was happening. I thought 'Here we go again'."

Yesterday the Environment Agency had 258 flood warnings in place, including 100 in the South West.

In Somerset, flood warnings have been issued for the River Axe, the River Isle and the River Tone.