North East

It was the worst flooding in Morpeth’s history.

But after the floods subsided, major questions are now being raised.

Could the town could have been better prepared?

Was there was enough warning of what was to come and did the town's rescue plan stand up to the test? 

Severe flood warning

"I think it’s by good luck rather than good management that lives weren’t lost," one resident told Inside Out.

Some families also say they felt abandoned by the emergency services.

Inside Out has pieced together some of the critical events of the day.

At 11.26 a severe flood warning was issued telling people in the High Stanners to leave their homes.

Mitford Road on the north side of the River Wansbeck was one of the first to start to flood.

There was also water coming into the first houses at the end of the Oldgate Bridge, and residents were preparing to evacuate houses in the Chandlers Gardens area.

The Environment Agency advised the emergency services to start evacuating parts of town.

But was that done early enough?

Ian Hodge of the Environment Agency says that a balance had to be struck: "Morpeth is a busy town centre - it was a Saturday and we can have an impact and cry wolf once too often.

"So we do have to strike a balance so we don’t give advice so that people don’t take notice of it."

Disappearing in the deluge

In the next 12 hours swathes of Morpeth disappeared in the deluge.

A major evacuation exercise started and the town’s emergency plans were put to the test.

Resident Ian Smith believes that measures were taken too late, "I rang the council for the 6th or 7th time to say the sand bags were far too late.

"They said 'we have to prioritise' – I said 'how much of a priority is the bloody river in my house?'"

What became clear was there simply weren’t enough sandbags - and the rescue teams were forced to improvise.

Overstretched emergency services

By late afternoon, the emergency services were at full stretch and lives were at risk.

One fireman told Inside Out: "We were getting calls from the public to report elderly relatives or relatives needing medication – which we were able to prioritise.

Aerial view - the floods at their height.

"In the main it was a systematic search of the area – starting at the area greatest at risk and then bringing in other resources because when it was too deep and fast flowing.

"And then we started bringing in other resources such as the RAF helicopter from Boulmer."

Three hundred people were in need of rescuing from the affected properties.

When the RAF arrived, the first task was to pick people up from roof tops.

Caught out

Morpeth has a long history of flooding and, according to its emergency plans, it should have had pleasure boats on standby to help in a crisis.

But the day when they were really needed, they were full of flood water and of no use to the rescuers.

Rescuers try to control the rising waters.

Ken Dunbar, the Chief Executive of Morpeth Council, explains: "Yet again we were caught by the speed of the water.

"The speed of the water flood meant those boats were inaccessible without great danger before we had a chance to deploy them to where they might be best used…. So there are lessons there.

"Hindsight is a great thing. If we’d had more people we would have moved the boats – the reality is that people were knocking on doors trying to evacuate people from their homes and that was a priority."

The local fire service didn’t have a boat either and had to borrow an inflatable from nearby Tyne and Wear Fire Service.

Luckily two lifeboats arrived to help, one from the RNLI and another from the RSPCA.

"Middle Greens abandoned"

Despite the heroic efforts of rescue services elsewhere, in Middle Greens there was still no one around.

So it was down to local people to help each other.

Resident Andrew Wilson says, "We had no warnings, no help whatsoever.

"Me and my pals knew there was a boat in the allotments – so we went and got it.

"We brought it down the streets got the elderly out, got disabled people out - just made trips up and down getting people out."

Recovery plans

By Sunday morning it was clear just how bad the damage had been – and it was a miracle that lives had not been lost.

The water had receded but it had left a layer of thick contaminated mud rendering useless everything it covered.

Flood families flee their homes.

Around 2,000 people had been forced to sleep away from their homes – 900 houses and 90 businesses had been wrecked.

The Environment Agency’s automated telephone warning service had missed the Middle Greens area of the town.

Inside Out has been told that was simply down to human error from a computer operator.

Ian Hodge from the Environment Agency says: "We actually issued through the day 45 different flood warnings... unfortunately a check went in the wrong box and that meant the warning didn’t go out to Middle Greens...

"It was essentially a click of the mouse in the wrong place. It is terrible and we understand the devastation that people will have experienced during that flood event."

Review of operations

All the services involved in the emergency plan are now reviewing what happened.

Chief Executive Ken Dubar says, "I accept here and now that we simply didn’t have enough people on the ground.

"The big lesson from this is that as a council we have been given a lot of credit for reducing staff – the reality is that it makes us leaner but makes it very difficult responding to emergencies like this."

For hundreds of the town’s residents, the disruption will inevitably last many months.

There’s no definitive figure yet on the final bill for the restoration of the town but it will be counted in the tens of millions of pounds.

The whole town has responded in remarkable ways. The local Lions Club announced its appeal fund had hit its target of £100,000 – and cash is still pouring in to help the uninsured and elderly.

Everyone from the council is working hard on the recovery plan.

Ken Dubar from Morpeth Council says, "We are campaigning to Government to say we are expecting the full cost of the flood recovery and restoration to be met from Government.

"And we will campaign heavily and hard to make sure that happens."

The urgent job now is to ensure that such a devastating disaster never happens again.

More flood defences are planned for the town but the question remains – will the town be better prepared next time?

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