SOME 22mm of rain fell in south Devon and the South Hams early on Saturday and into Sunday, leaving many roads flooded and some impassable.

Fire crews from Ashburton and Buckfastleigh were called to a report of three people trapped in a vehicle in floodwater at Alston Cross, Ashburton, at 5.20pm on Saturday.

On arrival they found a car stuck in the water, removed it to safety and released the occupants.

As they returned to their station, the Buckfastleigh firefighters came across a vehicle stuck in floodwater on the A38 at Whistley Hill, Ashburton.

An Ashburton fire crew was requested to keep other motorists away from the flooded area as an ejector pump was used to remove water from the road and unblock a drain.

A woman had already left the vehicle before the fire service arrived.

Then, at 6.15pm, as the Buckfastleigh crew made its way back to the town, it came across a man, who had collapsed, lying in the road at the roundabout junction of Dartbridge Road and Buckfast Road, Buckfastleigh.

The man was tended by the crew until the arrival of an ambulance.

Some roads in and around Newton Abbot were flooded and others had heavy surface water with driving conditions extremely hazardous.

Fields around Teigngrace were flooded and there were other floods on the A383 at Bickington, the A381 at Abbotskerswell, in Ashburton, Chudleigh and Kingskerswell, as well as the A379 at Kenton.

A Devon County Council spokesman said considering the amount of rain that fell, the Teignbridge area had escaped pretty lightly.

Virgin Media (Telewest NTL) telephone users across Devon were not so lucky on Monday when their exchange went out of action.

Electricity supplies were turned off by Western Power Distribution in the Plymouth area in a planned shut down at a sub station, but a backup generator for the telecommunications company failed to take the load.

The phones were out of action from mid-morning until after 4pm, when the supplies were restored with the work resheduled for a later date.

Sara Doggett, for Virgin Media, said Western Power had cancelled the work until such time as Virgin Media gives the go ahead.

'Service was restored for the majority of customers during the day, with all services being back by 5pm.

'Resolving this issue has been a top priority for us. Virgin Media and ntl:Telewest Business would like to apologise to all customers affected by this,' she said.

All incoming and outgoing telephones were out of action at Teignbridge Council's Forde House headquarters though staff could use the internal system. The telephones also went down in the Mid-Devon Advertiser offices in Wolborough Street, Newton Abbot, including internally.

After the weekend's downpour and the runoff from fields and water lying on roads there were fears the plummeting temperatures, which dropped below freezing to welcome in December on Tuesday, would wreak havoc.

Devon County Council gritters were out in force from early Monday evening to treat around 1,650 miles of highway, and motorists were warned that roads could be icy and conditions could become treacherous, particularly on untreated routes.

A spokesman for the council said all main routes were treated in the evening. There was then an inspection in the early hours and all the roads were salted again.

In Teignbridge there were a number of ice related accidents on Tuesday.

At 6am, a Vauxhall Corsa skidded off the Newton Abbot-Ashburton road near Bickington and ended up in the hedge. The driver was uninjured.

There was a shunt between two cars on the Old Kingskerswell Road, on the approaches to the Decoy Industrial Estate, Newton Abbot, at 8.20am. Again nobody was hurt.

The Exeter Road between Teignmouth and Haldon saw a number of prangs, as did the Newton Abbot-Totnes road.

Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman Alan Mobbs said most drivers had heeded the warnings.

He urged motorists not to be complacent and to take extra care.

The county council has issued the following advice to drivers when icy weather strikes:

l Avoid overnight travel unless absolutely essential as roads will always be more hazardous at night with less traffic and colder temperatures;

l Never assume a road has been salted – remember that showers or rain will wash salt off roads leaving them prone to ice. In very cold weather even salting will not stop ice from forming;

l Allow extra time for your journey and reduce your speed.

l Listen to local radio for updates on current conditions.

l Drive with care and according to the conditions.