Smash hit

More than 400 people were evacuated from their homes in Morpeth, Northumberland, as the town was “virtually cut off” when the River Wansbeck burst its banks, causing the worst flooding since the 1960s.

The situation was so serious that an RAF helicopter was called in to help pluck several stranded residents to safety.

At the height of the floods, Morpeth High Street was under 2ft of water, but Northumberland County Council member Andrew Tebbutt said the situation has “eased considerably” overnight. Residents spent the night at two rescue centres located in the north and the south of the town.

Councillor Tebbutt, who is jointly in charge of emergency planning, said: “Fortunately it is not raining at the moment as it did most of the night. If we get torrential rain again like we did yesterday then it will re-flood very quickly, the ground is saturated.”

He said around 1,000 homes were affected by the flooding and around 400 people were evacuated.

“There were a considerable number of people who self-evacuated so the number will be higher,” he added.

The British Red Cross said many of the people evacuated from their homes in Morpeth were elderly and were “traumatised” by the experience.

Judy Evans, operations director for the North East and Cumbria, said the organisation was asked to help the emergency services, who had been unable to cope with the number of calls.

“The flood waters rose so quickly that we were not able to help with that evacuation because we couldn’t get the vehicles in," she said. "We were then asked to help with the set-up of an evacuation centre where the people whose houses were being flooded were being taken to. So we sent volunteers up there to help with the support of people who were quite traumatised.

“It is very difficult when your house is being flooded and you are quite elderly so people needed help readjusting to that situation.”

Topsy Clinch, 91, completed repairs to her cottage in Pickering just a month ago, after being flooded in June last year. She spent yesterday trying to move her furniture upstairs.

“I have been flooded five times since I moved here in 1975, and this will be the sixth,” said Mrs Clinch. “It is chaos but it won’t get the better of me.”