ANIMALS have been evacuated from a community farm after heavy rains have left half the 20-acre site under water.

Clarence's Community Farm, in Billingham, Teesside, is closed until further notice after a river burst its banks and deluged the popular visitor attraction.

"People would have to wade through foot-deep water to the barns, which can't be used because they are waterlogged," said farm coordinator Dave Featherstone

"We were told this problem shouldn't happen again because of recent work, but the sheer volume of rain has caught everyone by surprise.

"But in the past we have always had contingency plans and our staff know what to do, so we should be all right."

During the past 12 years the farm, on Haverton Hill Road, has been hit by floods a number of times and owner Stockton Borough Council has been working with Teesside Environmental Trust to combat the problem.

The banks of the Holme Fleet have been strengthened and a drain has been unblocked to ease pressure on the waterway.

But downpours on New Year's Eve coupled with recent snow showers proved too much.

Mr Featherstone said he would reassess the situation in a fortnight on when the farm would reopen.

Teesside Environmental Trust administrator Cliff Shepherd said: "The problem with the farm is that is it is built in the lowest part of the land there, and is always prone to flooding no matter what we do.

"It is on a former river bed and, in retrospect, it probably wasn't the best idea to put a community farm there."