Early-morning storms caused problems for travellers in the region on Saturday.

Police in Suffolk were alerted to several problems with standing water after the storms which hit the Ipswich area between 8am and 10am.

A car left the A12 northbound at Capel St Mary and firefighters had to help free the occupants. They were treated by the ambulance service, but police said there were no serious injuries. As it was a weekend there were fewer than normal vehicles on the road.

A police spokesman urged drivers to take extra care on wet roads because after a dry spell road surfaces could be quite greasy after the rain.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service also attended two incidents caused by the flooding.

The roof of the Rivenhall Hotel in Witham collapsed, causing problems with the electrics.

A Crew from Witham were called to the scene at 7.42am, and on arrival the incident commander reported that a blocked drain in the roof had caused water to pool and part of the roof had collapsed.

Firefighters isolated the electrics and pumped water from the drain.

They had completed their work by 7.58am.

Four crews then attended a fire on the roof of St Michael’s Hospital in Braintree after lightning struck the building.

Two crews from Braintree, one from witham and one from Colchester attended the scene of the fire at the former hospital in Rayne Road at 8.03am.

On arrival the incident commander reported that there was a fire in the roof and that the entire building, which measures 16 by six metres, was completely smoke logged.

Wearing breathing apparatus and using two hose reel jets firefighters had extinguished the fire by 9.12am.

Meanwhile rail passengers were facing some delays because of flooding between Witham and Marks Tey which forced trains to slow down and was adding about 10 minutes to journey times.