Rothbury river level drops after Storm Babet flooding

Water levels have fallen after homes had to be evacuated when a river burst its banks during Storm Babet.

Heavy rain caused flooding by the River Coquet in Rothbury, Northumberland, and some residents had to spend the night away from their homes.

The Environment Agency (EA) said river levels remained high but no further flooding was expected.

The town's county councillor Steven Bridgett said many residents had a "lucky escape".

Mr Bridgett, who represents Rothbury on Northumberland County Council, said the mountain rescue teams, police, fire service and county council "did everything right".

But he said the EA needed to have "a good look" at its data.

"Yesterday morning they were predicting a peak of about 2.4m. The last time I checked it was about 3.35m," Mr Bridgett said.

"So that's nearly a metre higher than what they were predicting."

EA flood risk operations manager Andrew Turner said the river levels had been the highest since 2012 and closing the flood gates early had prevented 25 properties being flooded.

"We almost had a month's worth of rainfall here in 24 hours but it didn't meet our trigger for issuing a flood warning and we'll be looking at that," he said.

"We'll have a look at where the river got to, where the levels were at their highest, when that happened and, if we can make those improvements to our flood warning service to give people as much notice as possible, then we'll absolutely do that."

Rothbury had experienced major floods over the past 15 years so residents knew what to do, Mr Bridgett said.

"We come together as a community," he said.

"The water was millimetres off entering a number of properties and the deployment of sandbags and the fire service pumping the water out has really helped it stop getting in."

In 2008, about 50 homes in the town were damaged and cars were washed away when water levels rose dramatically.

Emergency services, including firefighters, mountain rescue volunteers and the coastguard, were called to the town on Friday and some roads in the town were cut off by flood water.

Weather warnings have now been lifted across northern England but there are a number of flood warnings - where less dangerous flooding is expected - in place.

The EA said expected showers on Saturday should ease overnight and no further flooding of properties was anticipated.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, EA director of flood strategy Julie Foley urged anyone receiving a flood warning to "take action right now".

She said it was also "really important" that people stay away from swollen rivers.

"It's very, very important that people don't drive through flood waters, all it takes is up to 30 centimetres of fast-flowing water to actually move a car," she said.

June Gibson, who has lived in her home in The Maltings in Rothbury for seven years, said the water had "come flying in like a river", right up to her front door.

"I was evacuated with a fireman - he got me on his back," she said.

She thanked the "fantastic" people who brought sandbags and put them round her house.

"I was expecting devastation," she said.

"I was expecting the whole house to be flooded and it's just the garage.

"I didn't get flooded, I can't believe it."

Train operators around the UK have advised customers not to travel on Saturday due to widespread disruption.

London North Eastern Railway (LNER), Avanti West Coast and Northern Rail have all warned lines are widely flooded.

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