Emergency services worked throughout the night to contain flooding after water mains burst in two different areas in the region.

On Monday night a pipe ruptured in Thompson Street East, in Darlington, flooding houses.

But fire crews and the police were able to contain the water with pumps and sandbags and no houses were evacuated.

Meanwhile, Tuesday rush-hour traffic on Newcastle's Coast Road is being disrupted after a water main fractured.

It burst around 4am, but Northumbrian Water engineers and the emergency services were able to contain the water within an hour.

But drivers using the Coast Road are being urged to leave plenty of time for their journey because traffic has been reduced to one lane.

The two floods are unrelated and their cause is being investigated. Alistair Baker, spokesman for Northumbrian Water, said disruption had been kept to a minimum.

He said: "Our pipes and assets unfortunately happen to be under roads and the pressure of traffic can impact on pipes causing them to fracture. "These are unfortunately the hazards of the utility business and we do apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Network Rail engineers were also called out during the night to help prevent flood waters reaching rail tracks at Darlington.

In Newcastle the flood caused subsidence between Newton Road and Heaton Road.