Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes after torrential storms caused floods and 6ft-high hailstone drifts.

Shocked residents have spoken of the freak weather that hit parts of Somerset and Devon, sparking hundreds of evacuations from homes and causing accidents on heavily flooded roads.

Flash floods hit Ilminster in Somerset and Ottery St Mary, Devon, after heavy rain and "slush" fell from the sky from midnight on Wednesday into the early hours of Thursday, blocking drains and gutters.

A pregnant woman held up by floods on her way to a maternity unit yesterday cuddled her first-born – 6lb 10½oz Nathan – after emergency services came to the rescue.

He arrived in hospital – three weeks early – about 10 hours after parents Juliet Hall, 34, and husband Phil, 42, set out from their country home on a 20-mile nightmare journey.

They were on the road from their home in Northleigh, east Devon, to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Exeter, as what the Met Office described as a "freak" weather event battered the area.

Worst hit was the town of Ottery St Mary, where around 100 millimetres of rain fell between 1am and 3am.

Roads into the low-lying town became torrents, ripping huge chunks out of the hedges, tearing up the road surface and spreading silt and rubble.

Floodwater rose rapidly, up to 4ft in places, leading to the evacuation of around 30 people from their flooded homes. Freak hail battered the town, drifting knee deep in some places, and turning the roads into ice rinks.

The force of the floodwater swept some cars down a stream, and stranded dozens of others. The weather caused thousands of pounds of damage.

The Met Office said the weather system seemed to be centred on Ottery, and a spokesman said: "It is probably one of those occasions when we can call it a freak event."

Police, coastguard and fire service were all called in to action as fierce electric storms lashed the area. The emergency services set up an evacuation centre at Ottery hospital, where 20 people were taking shelter.

Some people in remote farm houses had to be airlifted to safety.

Firefighters said the flooding was the worst they had seen for 25 years, with one crew getting stuck in a 6ft hail drift.

A two-mile stretch of the B3174 into Ottery St Mary was closed for a timer.

Grandmother Elizabeth Devay, her husband Michael, their daughter Deborah Rawling, her husband Phillip and their children Phillip Jnr, nine, and Bradley, six, were in caravans in a friend's field when the storm struck.

Mrs Devay: "When we opened the door there were floods outside the caravan knee-deep with the hail floating on top. By the time we got out of the door it was up to our waist."

Mr Rawling said: "The water was freezing, we do not know what we would have done if the hospital had not been so close."

Robin Barker, of West Hill, near Ottery, described the storms as "like nothing I've witnessed before".

Mr Barker, who is in his 50s and works for Services For Tourism, said yesterday: "I've seen plenty of storms abroad and here at home but this one was just extraordinary because what it was distributing was a bizarre mix of rain, sleet and snow which came down in a very thick consistency.

"It began to block gutters and drains. It was really sticky, almost like the consistency of mulchy leaves. There was also two hours of thunder and lightning.

Tony Fabry, whose wife Sharon is the sub post mistress in Ottery, said the sorting room was under six inches of water.

The 46-year-old said: "A few of the businesses have problems. The Chinese take-away, the newsagents, a book shop and the wine shop are all under water.

"The road behind the post office is a river a foot deep, this morning we've just been watching the debris floating down it, even a child's plastic slide.

"A friend has a field with two horse, this morning the field is under six foot of water and the horses have gone, even the fire station's under a foot of water."

In Somerset, a woman had to be towed to safety in her car by firefighters from Ilminster and Taunton after becoming trapped in floods between Isle Abbots and Fivehead.

The area is notorious for flooding and The Environment Agency issued flood watch warnings for the River Isle at Ashford Mill, and for the River Parrett between Thorney and Kingsbury Episcopi.