Flooded Morpeth becomes Britain’s latest lake

Sep 7 2008 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

Regulars help save pub from the drink

A PUB landlady yesterday raised her glass to customers who rallied round in her hour of need.

Karen Burnett praised regulars for trying to minimise damage from flood water.

Armed with brushes and sandbags, the volunteers attempted to stop the water from flooding the cellar.

But they were too late to prevent flooding in the public area of popular pub, the Fox and Hounds at Coalburns, near Greenside, Gateshead.

Karen said: “The water is about 3ft inside and 1.5ft in some rooms inside. It’s affected the pool room, main bar, and toilets.The pub had to be closed but the regulars came round to help.

“They went to B&Q to buy sandbags and have helped sweep water out of the pub.”

Karen said it would cost hundreds of pounds to replace carpets.

And the flood caused lost takings on the busiest day of the year as the annual leek show was cancelled.

She claimed she asked for sandbags from Gateshead Council but they did not arrive.

Karen said: “We also had a flood two weeks ago and the council came out to check the drains. They were supposed to come back to clean them but no one came. I just want to cry, but you have to plod on.”

No one from the council was available for comment.

Karen, celebrating her 48th birthday yesterday, had spent Friday night and all of yesterday tackling the flood.

Yacht crew forced to cut down own sails in storm

THREE yachtsmen were rescued yesterday after they were forced to cut down their sails in treacherous conditions.

The 14m (45ft) yacht was escorted to safety in the River Tyne by Tynemouth RNLI all-weather lifeboat after the crew were overwhelmed by equipment failure and weather conditions seven miles out at sea.

The group were sailing from Inverness to the south coast and, after battling the weather all night, were unable to haul their sails in, prompting them to cut them down.

Meanwhile, police issued a warning to a group of expert canoeists after they sparked a major rescue operation on a raging river.

Six of the country’s best slalom canoeists ventured out onto the River Tees in County Durham yesterday afternoon, close to Barnard Castle.

Three of the squad were swept downstream by the strong current and disappeared.

Two were dragged out of the boats by the force of the water and the third went to their aid but lost his paddle and was swept downstream.

Police searched the river bank downstream and the fire brigade prepared a boat to hunt for survivors as a helicopter scoured the scene.

The trio were spotted a mile downstream near Gainford scrambling out of the river.

A police spokesman said: “We have spoken to all the canoeists about the wisdom of going out in heavily flooded water.”