Wedding guests in hotel flood drama

Sep 8 2008 by Neil Mckay, The Journal

SIXTY wedding guests had to be evacuated from a hotel situated between two rivers which burst their banks.

Guests in bedroom chalets attached to the Honest Lawyer on the A167 at Sunderland Bridge, four miles south of Durham, were taken to other hotels on Saturday night.

Water had reached the window ledges of the chalets, after both the River Wear and its tributary, the Browney, flooded.

The hotel is close to the point where the Browney enters the Wear.

Fire crews from Peterlee, using a high volume pump, spent all night and most of yesterday morning pumping gallons of floodwater from the grounds of the hotel.

The bedroom chalets are adjacent to the hotel.

Crew manager Ray Sillito said: “The bedrooms are flooded but we have succeeded in preventing the floodwater from reaching the main hotel.

“Both rivers burst their banks and bales of straw from nearby fields were carried downstream.”

John Adamson, director of operations for Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, praised the crews who had worked all night to save the hotel.

He said: “This operation has demonstrated the value of the investment into the High Volume Pump Equipment, but no matter how good the equipment it is down to the crews who have been operating it.

“Our priority was to prevent the hotel from having to close.”

Hotel manager David Jones said: “Around 60 guests were staying here last night. They were part of a wedding party which had been held at another venue. We arranged for cars and taxis to take them to hotels nearby when the chalets had to be evacuated late last night.

“The fire crews prevented floodwater from reaching the main hotel and we are open for business as usual today.”

Firefighters said they had attended “dozens” of flooding incidents across the county, but described the Honest Lawyer one as the most significant.

Relentless rain brings chaos in its wake

FLOODING caused chaos across parts of Tyneside at the weekend, with homes and roads left under water and transport links disrupted.

The ground floors of up to 100 homes filled with water in the Brunton Park, Three Mile, Whitebridge Park and Red House Farm areas of Newcastle on Saturday when the river Ouseburn in the north of Newcastle broke its banks.

Some residents left their homes overnight to stay with family or friends, while some had to spend the night in hotels.

John Shipley, leader of Newcastle City Council, said: “I want to thank the emergency services for their swift response on Saturday.

“Sandbags and pumps got to most of the residents needing them pretty quickly, though some residents suffered delays caused by the sheer volume of calls. Some homes were under two feet of water.

“The speed and severity of the flooding is worrying. I have asked for a full report to be produced urgently to give us actual rainfall levels and why works undertaken to the drainage in the last couple of years around the Ouseburn seem not to have been as effective as promised.

“We also need to examine why some residents did not receive flood risk warnings. Many people think that the additional building in recent years around the Western Bypass is causing the problem.”

Several other areas were also affected by the heavy rain, with some roads having to be closed off.

Mick Murphy, director of technical services at Newcastle City Council, said: “Newcastle’s central motorway has been closed, on and off, for the past two days.

“The A69 was also closed, but was able to be reopened yesterday morning.

“We have had crews of about 70 people working since Friday, giving out sandbags and helping to keep the water at bay. We now have to wait for the rain to stop, assess the damage and start the clean-up operation.”

Jesmond Dene Road was also closed for a time on Saturday, while lane restrictions were in place on the Scotswood and Great North Roads.

Meanwhile commuters faced disruption to Metro services with trains suspended between Kingston Park and Newcastle Airport yesterday and Saturday.

A spokesperson for Metro operator, Nexus, said: “Due to flooding at Callerton, the Metro service has been suspended between Kingston Park and the Airport in both directions.

“Metro apologise for the disruption and we are doing everything we can to get services back to normal.”