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EU Referendum Polls Open As Flooding Hits Polling Stations In South East England

'I just had to be carried into a flooded polling station. It's something biblical...'
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HuffPost UK

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"Massive" queues have been reported at polling stations as the EU Referendum kicks off, despite torrential rain hitting parts of the country.

Polling stations have been flooded in areas including Kingston and Worcester Park, and one voter said they had to be "carried in" as torrential downpours swamped parts of London and the South East.

The fire brigade has been inundated with more than 300 emergency calls.

Voters are going to the polls to decide whether the UK should remain in the European Union in a historic moment for the future of the country.

People tweeted that some polling stations had been relocated due to the weather but many were "packed" as they opened at 7am this morning.

These 11 voters were not deterred by the weather:

Nigel Farage, the leader of Ukip who supports a Leave vote, had said he believed those voting 'Out' would "crawl over broken glass" to get to the polling station.

 These seven voters thought the scene in the early hours this morning suggested a high turnout could be on the cards:

Polling stations across UK
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A man walks into a polling station to vote in the EU referendum, in Etherow country park in Stockport, Britain June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Yates (credit:Andrew Yates / Reuters)
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A policeman stands outside a polling station in Biggin Hill, Britain June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez (credit:Dylan Martinez / Reuters)
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A man wearing a European themed cycling jersey arrives to vote at a polling station for the Referendum on the European Union in north London, Britain, June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Neil Hall (credit:Neil Hall / Reuters)
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Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha leave after voting in the EU referendum, at a polling station in central London, Britain June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth (credit:Stefan Wermuth / Reuters)
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A woman photographs her daughter after she voted at a polling station for the Referendum on the European Union in north London, Britain, June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Neil Hall (credit:Neil Hall / Reuters)
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Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha leave after voting in the EU referendum, at a polling station in central London, Britain June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth (credit:Stefan Wermuth / Reuters)
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People arrive to vote at a polling station for the Referendum on the European Union in Heald Green, Stockport, Britain, June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Yates (credit:Andrew Yates / Reuters)
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Electoral workers carry signs as they prepare a polling station for the Referendum on the European Union in north London, Britain, June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Neil Hall TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY (credit:Neil Hall / Reuters)
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A polling station is prepared for the Referendum on the European Union in north London, Britain, June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Neil Hall (credit:Neil Hall / Reuters)
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A man carries an umbrella as he leaves a polling station for the Referendum on the European Union in north London, Britain, June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth (credit:Stefan Wermuth / Reuters)
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Women walk past a pub being used as a polling station for the Referendum on the European Union in west London, Britain, June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Toby Melville (credit:Toby Melville / Reuters)
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A man puts up a sign at a polling station for the Referendum on the European Union in Heald Green, Stockport, Britain, June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Yates (credit:Andrew Yates / Reuters)
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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 23: Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn walks with Labour Party activists as he leaves his home to cast his vote at a polling station at Pakeman Primary School in Islington on June 23, 2016 in London, England. The United Kingdom has gone to the polls to decide whether or not the country wishes to remain within the European Union. After a hard fought campaign from both REMAIN and LEAVE the vote is too close to call. A result on the referendum is expected on Friday morning. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) (credit:Matt Cardy via Getty Images)
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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 23: Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn stops for a photograph with members of the public as he leaves his home to cast his vote at a polling station at Pakeman Primary School in Islington on June 23, 2016 in London, England. The United Kingdom has gone to the polls to decide whether or not the country wishes to remain within the European Union. After a hard fought campaign from both REMAIN and LEAVE the vote is too close to call. A result on the referendum is expected on Friday morning. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) (credit:Matt Cardy via Getty Images)
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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 23: Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn walks with Labour Party activists as he leaves his home to cast his vote at a polling station at Pakeman Primary School in Islington on June 23, 2016 in London, England. The United Kingdom has gone to the polls to decide whether or not the country wishes to remain within the European Union. After a hard fought campaign from both REMAIN and LEAVE the vote is too close to call. A result on the referendum is expected on Friday morning. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) (credit:Matt Cardy via Getty Images)
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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 23: Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn walks with Labour Party activists as he leaves his home to cast his vote at a polling station at Pakeman Primary School in Islington on June 23, 2016 in London, England. The United Kingdom has gone to the polls to decide whether or not the country wishes to remain within the European Union. After a hard fought campaign from both REMAIN and LEAVE the vote is too close to call. A result on the referendum is expected on Friday morning. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) (credit:Matt Cardy via Getty Images)
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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 23: Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home to cast his vote at a polling station at Pakeman Primary School in Islington on June 23, 2016 in London, England. The United Kingdom has gone to the polls to decide whether or not the country wishes to remain within the European Union. After a hard fought campaign from both REMAIN and LEAVE the vote is too close to call. A result on the referendum is expected on Friday morning. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) (credit:Matt Cardy via Getty Images)
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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 23: Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home to cast his vote at a polling station at Pakeman Primary School in Islington on June 23, 2016 in London, England. The United Kingdom has gone to the polls to decide whether or not the country wishes to remain within the European Union. After a hard fought campaign from both REMAIN and LEAVE the vote is too close to call. A result on the referendum is expected on Friday morning. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) (credit:Matt Cardy via Getty Images)
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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 23: A man holding an umbrella passes by a polling station sign during the British EU Referendum in London, United Kingdom on June 23, 2016. Voting has begun in the United Kingdoms historic referendum on its membership of the European Union. Polling stations will remain open for 15 hours until 10 p.m. local time. (Photo by Ray Tang/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) (credit:Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 23: Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn casts his vote at a polling station at Pakeman Primary School in Islington on June 23, 2016 in London, England. The United Kingdom is going to the polls to decide whether or not the country wishes to remain within the European Union. After a hard fought campaign from both REMAIN and LEAVE the vote is too close to call. A result on the referendum is expected on Friday morning. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) (credit:Matt Cardy via Getty Images)
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A sign for a polling station is attached to a fence in Little Milton on June 23, 2016.Millions of Britons began voting today in a bitterly-fought, knife-edge referendum that could tear up the island nation's EU membership and spark the greatest emergency of the bloc's 60-year history. / AFP / ADRIAN DENNIS (Photo credit should read ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:ADRIAN DENNIS via Getty Images)
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A Polling Station sign for the Referendum on the European Union is erected in the village of St Florence, Near Tenby, Pembrokeshire in Wales, June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Rebecca Naden (credit:Rebecca Naden / Reuters)
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Signs are put up outside the polling station at West Blatchington Windmill near Brighton, in southern England on June 23, 2016, as Britain holds a referendum on wether to stay or leave the European Union (EU).Millions of Britons began voting Thursday in a bitterly-fought, knife-edge referendum that could tear up the island nation's EU membership and spark the greatest emergency of the bloc's 60-year history. / AFP / GLYN KIRK (Photo credit should read GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:GLYN KIRK via Getty Images)
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A general view of a polling station at the White Horse Inn in Priors Dean, Hampshire, also known as the 'Pub with no name' , as voters head to the polls across the UK in a historic referendum on whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union or leave. (credit:Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)
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Presiding officer Ahmed Z Jamee prepares to open the polling station at West Blatchington Windmill near Brighton, in southern England on June 23, 2016, as Britain holds a referendum on wether to stay or leave the European Union (EU).Millions of Britons began voting Thursday in a bitterly-fought, knife-edge referendum that could tear up the island nation's EU membership and spark the greatest emergency of the bloc's 60-year history. / AFP / GLYN KIRK (Photo credit should read GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:GLYN KIRK via Getty Images)
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TOPSHOT - A presiding officer (L) and poll clerk (C) drink a cup of tea while waiting for early morning voters at a polling station set up in a launderette in Headington outside Oxford on June 23, 2016.Millions of Britons began voting today in a bitterly-fought, knife-edge referendum that could tear up the island nation's EU membership and spark the greatest emergency of the bloc's 60-year history. / AFP / ADRIAN DENNIS (Photo credit should read ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:ADRIAN DENNIS via Getty Images)
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SALTBURN-BY-THE-SEA, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 23: A dog is tied to railings outside a polling station waiting for its owner to cast their vote on the EU Referendum on June 23, 2016 in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has gone to the polls to decide whether or not the country wishes to remain within the European Union. After a hard fought campaign from both REMAIN and LEAVE the vote is too close to call. A result on the referendum is expected on Friday morning. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images) (credit:Ian Forsyth via Getty Images)
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Officials wait for voters inside a polling station being used in the EU referendum in a guest house annex in Dogmersfield, Hampshire. (credit:Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)
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SALTBURN-BY-THE-SEA, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 23: A dog is tied to railings outside a polling station waiting for its owner to cast their vote on the EU Referendum on June 23, 2016 in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has gone to the polls to decide whether or not the country wishes to remain within the European Union. After a hard fought campaign from both REMAIN and LEAVE the vote is too close to call. A result on the referendum is expected on Friday morning. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images) (credit:Ian Forsyth via Getty Images)
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Voters arrive the polling station set up at the Little Braxted Bakery in Little Braxted, Essex as voters are set to go to the polls to decide whether the UK should remain in the European Union. (credit:Nick Ansell/PA Wire)

The polls in the run-up to the big day have suggested the referendum result is on a knife-edge, with neither side able to surge ahead in the final weeks.

Both sides of the referendum campaign have been locked in fierce fighting for months, and things came to a frenetic close on Wednesday as senior politicians travelled across the country to try and sway undecided voters.

The Remain campaign, led by David Cameron, has repeatedly stressed that the UK is “stronger, safer and better off” inside the EU, The Press Association reported.

The Prime Minister and his Remain colleagues from across the political spectrum have also warned of the potentially severe economic consequences of a Brexit vote amid fears of financial market turmoil and another recession.

But Leave campaigners, led by Tory heavyweight Boris Johnson, have urged voters to “take back control” of the country.

Leave campaigners believe a divorce from Brussels would give the UK more money to spend on national issues like funding the NHS as well as giving the Government the ability to control the nation’s borders and levels of immigration.

Mr Johnson has suggested that June 23 could be remembered as the UK’s “independence day”.

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Leave campaigners are led by Boris Johnson.
SCOTT HEPPELL via Getty Images

The referendum campaign has been punctuated by ill-tempered exchanges and interventions with both sides accusing the other of scaremongering, particularly over the issues of the economy and immigration.

Nigel Farage came in for particularly stern criticism after unveiling a Brexit poster showing a queue of hundreds of immigrants arriving in Europe with the slogan “breaking point”.

And Leave campaigners were left furious after George Osborne made use of Treasury research to warn that quitting the EU would result in households being £4,300 worse off.

Meanwhile, dozens of celebrities have intervened during the course of the campaign to make their feelings known. 

 

Footballer David Beckham, James Bond actor Daniel Craig and Harry Potter author JK Rowling were just three of the high profile names to back the Remain campaign, while Leave won support from the likes of comedian John Cleese, former cricketer Sir Ian Botham and former England football player Sol Campbell.

A record number of voters are eligible to take part in the referendum with the Electoral Commission putting the number at 46,499,537.

A last-minute surge to register crashed the Government’s website hours before the deadline on June 7, prompting a 48-hour extension.

Polling stations opened at 7am and will close at 10pm.

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