THE latest high technology is to be harnessed to give flood victims a fighting chance to beat the elements.

In the £2.7m scheme, up-to-the-minute satellite weather forecasts will be beamed directly to the mobile phones and home computers of residents most at risk of flooding.

The information will give beleaguered householders an opportunity to save their property from further damage - an early warning to save belongings or sandbag their homes.

Twice in the space of six months, residents of Skinningrove in East Cleveland saw their homes devastated by floodwaters.

In June 2000, and again in November of the same year, sewage and water flooded into their homes after the village beck became blocked with debris and burst its banks.

Other residents of Loftus, Carlin How, Brotton and Guisborough have been left mopping up and counting the cost.

The scheme involves forecasts being instantly transmitted via the Internet, email and the mobile telephone text messaging service and is being funded by the Government under the "Invest to Save" initiative.

The idea is the brainchild of the Environment Agency, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and the Met Office.

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Ashok Kumar praised the scheme.

And Councillor David Walsh, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, said: "We all know that weather patterns are changing dramatically. We were told the first time that we had experienced a once-in-a-century storm only to experience an identical storm a few short months later." The initiative would provide a lot of comfort to those who were affected.