A TOUCH of ’flu helped a single mum and her toddler son escape their flat before it was flooded.

Five minutes before water from a torrential rain storm gushed into her home in the early hours, Aiysha Hansen woke up feeling ill.

To her horror when she opened the front door on hearing the rain, she was greeted by knee-deep water.

“It was about 4am on Saturday. I’d heard all the rain from the living room and opened the door to check,” said Aiysha, 19, who lives in a basement flat in Trull Road, Taunton.

“Within seconds the water was ankle-deep in the hallway and the kitchen was flooded within minutes.

“I grabbed my phone and called the fire brigade, who were incredible.

“The water in the flat had soaked into the chipboard, but they pumped away the water from outside and bashed in a wall to allow it to drain away.

“If they hadn’t come it would have been really deep.”

Aiysha, who was still under the weather yesterday (Wednesday), and her son, Tobias, 19 months, who is also unwell, were put up for two days by a volunteer who helped victims of the Somerset Levels flooding in the winter through Flooding on the Levels Action Group (FLAG).

It is the third time Aiysha has been flooded since just before Christmas and she says she is discussing the issue with her landlord.

She said: “I love my flat and the location, but it’s not very pleasant being flooded so often.

“I’m so grateful to the firefighters and to the person who put Tobias and me up.”