A ferocious storm brought monsoon conditions to Oxfordshire yesterday for the second time in 24 hours.

Floods cover Stockleys Road in Marston, Oxford, yesterdayAnd the Meterological Office warned last night that more heavy rainstorms are on the way today.

The hour-long downpour caused chaos around Oxford -- particularly in the area of the Eastern Bypass, which was closed off by police for more than two hours.

Pedestrians ran for cover as torrential rain from a flash thunderstorm created giant puddles in the city centre.

Hundreds of people were caught in the storm which started at about 3pm.

Fire crews were called to a flood at the New Theatre in George Street where hundreds were queueing for free Live 8 tickets.

A police spokesman said: "There have been widespread traffic problems, particularly on the ring road caused by the weather, flooding, and lots of cars breaking down.

"Officers have had to deal with a wide range of traffic problems, particularly in the Botley Road and Littlemore areas."

Oxfordshire firefighters were called out 60 times on flooding alarms in the city area between 3pm and 5pm. In all, during both Tuesday and Wednesday they received 150 calls for assistance throughout the county dealing with flooding, lightning strikes, and damage.

The fire service reported flooding to cellars in the Cowley Road area, where a spokesman said the water was a foot deep in places.

Betty Fletcher, who lives in a ground-floor flat in Stockleys Road, North Way in Marston, said her street looked like a river yesterday.

She added: "On Tuesday night it was up the kerbs. The water must have been doing 30mph and it was shooting out of the drains like a fountain."

One of the worst-hit areas was the dip in the Eastern Bypass between Rose Hill and the Cowley BMW plant where surface water made both carriageways impassable.

A truck driver was asked by roads policing officers to park his lorry across the northern road to prevent further traffic entering the hazardous stretch.

At Sainsbury's superstore, half a mile further south at Heyford Hill, the store had to close temporarily between 3pm and 5pm because a sudden deluge of water threatened to flood it.

Manager Adrian Wardle said: "We're in a dip and the volume of water was too much for the drainage and it came into the foyer and the exit door.

"We managed to stop the flood from getting into the main area of the store by putting down sandbags.

"We opened a couple of fire exits to allow people to get out, affecting between 100 and 150 of our customers for about an hour."