Morpeth set to receive national honour after floods
Sep 6 2010 by David Black, The Journal
DEDICATED volunteers who spearheaded a massive relief and recovery effort in a flood-hit Northumberland town will receive a coveted national honour this week, two years on from the catastrophe that hit 1,000 homes and businesses.
Today marks the second anniversary of the worst flooding in Morpeth’s history, when torrential rain caused the River Wansbeck to burst its banks and turn the town centre into a huge lake.
The incident – on September 6 2008 – saw families forced out of their homes for well over a year, businesses having to shut down for months and re-stock and the town’s library narrowly escape having to be demolished because of the extent of the damage.
Today Morpeth is almost completely back to normal, with the final council tenants returning to their flooded home within the last few weeks.
The recovery is partly due to the widely-praised efforts of a collection of voluntary groups and churches in the town, which came together to help hundreds of flood victims.
They raised £208,000 to hand out grants to needy families and organised a warehouse which distributed about 1,500 pieces of furniture to flood victims.
It resulted in the Morpeth Lions Club being awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service for its role in spearheading the campaign.
On Wednesday, 12 club members and their wives will be at Alnwick Castle for the formal presentation of the award by the Duchess of Northumberland.
Today’s second anniversary comes as residents and businesses continue to await final approval for a £16m Environment Agency scheme to upgrade their flood defences and help prevent a repeat of the catastrophe. Yesterday, Morpeth Lions Club member Les Sage, who coordinated the flood relief fund, said it was hard to believe that two years have passed since the incident.
“It feels like it was just two months ago and I don’t know where the time has gone.
“Any time it rains, older people who live near the river come and ask is if they are going to be all right. There is still a lot of worry.
“The river goes up and down and it can look terrifying at times, but hopefully what happened two years ago won’t happen again.
“People get frustrated because they can’t see anything happening about the flood defence scheme.
“I think they need a bit of reassurance that things are progressing, perhaps in the form of regular updates. It will be very nice to get the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service on Wednesday because we think we are the only Lions Club in the world to receive such an honour.”
Almost all of the money in the relief fund was given out via the Red Cross to flood victims.
However, a small surplus is now held by the town’s Churches United group to be used in the event of another flood.
The home and shop of Chamber of Trade chairman John Beynon were both flooded two years ago
And yesterday he said: “Everything is back to normal now, although it took some businesses a long time to get back on their feet. However, the fear factor is still here every time it rains heavily.
“I think September 6 will be a milestone for some time because the flooding was such a horrendous thing and is etched in everyone’s memory.”
Mr Beynon said the Morpeth Flood Action Group, the town council and the chamber of trade are working together on tackling insurance problems and issues which have arisen since the flooding.
He said they are seeking national action in the wake of insurance excesses rocketing for some flood-hit residents and businesses.
