THE chair of a village flood committee has told of the panic extreme flooding has caused residents in her community.

Susan Butler-Smith, chair of the Brompton Flood Prevention Group, said she was committed to helping to save the village, near Northallerton, from flooding.

She said: "Last night it was quite stressful for Brompton residents as the torrential rain was persistent all day and through the night. Also the ground was saturated from many rainy days and snow melting.

"The day before I had ordered sandbags as the rain kept falling and residents couldn’t manage to get any delivered to our village.

"Residents who are not used to seeing the green flooded were beginning to panic, and I kept people informed via our Facebook page as regards the level of water at the ford and the river level data at the middle pedestrian bridge.

"We had already put our flood sign out at the road bridge at Water End but we needed to stop people driving up Water End towards the farms on Fulicar Lane, so I rang the police to get permission to put out our road closed sign, which was granted.

"As the weather worsened I attempted to get more sandbags as the first batch had been used up, and the water came ever closer to our houses, reaching a height of five feet at the ford.

"More sandbags eventually arrived, making those who had none feel safer. I would like to give special thanks to the marvellous community spirit of the residents, all helping each other with sandbags but in particular to flood group member Craig Anderson who never stopped until everyone had some. The water reached his first step so it was very close."

Mrs Butler-Smith said the community is lucky that two large attenuation ponds that have been made at Kettlewell Farm, have done their job and held back thousands of cubic metres of water, managing to slow the flow and stop the water reaching the top of the road bridge.

She added: "When that happens any excess water travels back up Water End and will exacerbate flooding. I would especially like to thank Nigel Hebden from Kettlewell Farm for having the foresight to allow us to make the ponds there.

"The difference between flooding and not flooding with climate change is miniscule and today we survived a potential flood in our homes and all the trauma and stress that brings."