FLASH flooding in Darlington caused problems for hoteliers and residents as well as reports of coloured water emerging from drains.

While residents called The Northern Echo with reports of blue water on West Auckland Road, on Wednesday night, roads all over the town experienced overflowing drains, and some cellars were flooded.

Leslie Garnett, of Lodge Street, said his home came within a quarter of an inch of flooding as 18in of water stood in his garden.

But he said the problem would not have been as bad if Darlington Borough Council had responded to a number of requests from him to unblock a drain outside his home.

He said: "All the garden was flooded, both garages were flooded and they are all covered in silt.

"My own drains were blocked with silt."

A spokesman for the council said the matter may not have been dealt with in the seven weeks Mr Garnett claims to have been asking for the drain to be unblocked because of "work priorities".

He said: "With that amount of water, the drains just couldn't cope with it.

"We have arranged for the gullies to be dug out."

As regards the "blue water", he said it was something council officers had heard of in the past, but the authority received no reports on Wednesday.

Firefighters were called to the King's Head Hotel, in Priestgate, on three occasions to deal with flooding problems.

Torrential rain remains a threat

THE threat of torrential rain will not be over until after the weekend, weather experts said yesterday.

Adrian Crocker, a senior forecaster with British Weather Services, in Buckinghamshire, said there were chances of more flash floods blighting the region until Sunday.

He said the cool air after the recent hot weather had been behind the thunderstorms.

He said: "It's not widespread rain, it's localised downpours, and when they occur it is torrential."

He said in Pickering, North Yorkshire, more than an inch-and-a-half of rain fell in one night last week - the equivalent of half a month's rain.

The freak weather has been put down to the earth warming, but Mr Crocker said the "jury was still out" on whether it was a natural warming pattern or due to global warming.

He said that when the air becomes warmer it will hold more water.

"It's a good reason behind the fact we are getting wetter winters, and they are also windier, because if the atmosphere is warmer there is much more potential for stronger winds," he said.

"But at least there is less snow and ice."