RESIDENTS who have been plagued by flooding from their local beck have welcomed the introduction of a siren to alert them when the water level is rising.

Two years ago, following days of heavy rain, an eight-ft wall of water stormed down Skinningrove beck. In the minutes that followed sewage, mud and water swept into homes.

Residents had to be evacuated by lifeboat and taken to emergency rest centres.

Just as the East Cleveland village was returning to some normality, with mud-caked walls re-painted and soaking furniture replaced, floods struck again in October and November.

Since then flood defences have been put in place by Redcar and Cleveland Council.

As further protection the Environment Agency has now installed a siren on Zetland Row in the village. It is designed to warn people if water in the beck threatens to rise above the six-ft high flood defence barriers, giving them time to take action.

The device was welcomed by Vera Solomon, whose house on the corner of Stone Row was one of those badly affected by the floods in July and November. She said: "I think the siren will help a great deal, but it also depends on how fast the beck rises, which nobody can guess.

"It will be good to have a bit of forewarning so we can move some of our belongings.

"I have been badly hit twice now and it is not nice. Having some warning would have meant I could have moved my furniture and hopefully prevented it from being damaged.

"It is a terrible thing to have happen to you and I was all for moving, but things have settled down again now," she said. "Something like this can only be good for the village."

A forecasting system is also planned for the beck, which will improve the time available to issue flood warnings.

The siren was due to be tested yesterday.