TEAMWORK has been the key to dealing with potential flooding at Kitty Frisk in the east end of Hexham.

Local residents, council officials and a local councillor joined forces after unusually high rainfall turned a normally placid stream into a raging torrent shortly before the New Year celebrations.

Water and silt poured through gardens, and then down the Kitty Frisk main drive and out on to the Corbridge road.

A section of a lane which is used by many Eastwood Grange residents, running parallel to the Corbridge road, was totally blocked with deep water.

Northumberland County Council staff were quick to respond to the flood.

Early on the morning of December 29, two council workers brought warning signs, and both located and unblocked main drains.

Later, one very tired road sweeper, who had been on duty since 6am elsewhere, arrived with a specialist machine and did a fantastic job in clearing leaf debris from the old road and sucking up the flood water.

And to help prevent the problem happening again, residents of the nine houses at Kitty Frisk turned out in force on Sunday to help clear up the stream.

Alan Humphreys, of Kitty Frisk House, said they were taking action to work with the elements.

“We are taking a ‘hands on approach’, removing fallen branches and selectively thinning shrubs adjacent to the stream to let in light and encouraging a vegetation layer to develop and help stabilise the stream sides,” Mr Humphreys explained.

“At the same time we are ensuring that habitat is retained in appropriate places to provide shelter for wildlife that we know uses the stream.

“We are keeping the canopy of mature trees and we’ll be leaving some decaying logs too.

“We are very keen to be working with nature, rather than against it.”

The action group has plans to re-design and install new culvert grilles and build up older drain outlets to reduce the chance of blockage by debris.

Mr Humphreys said: “We believe with a bit of ingenuity we can play our part in helping to manage the stream and so contribute to the resilience and sustainability of our local environment.”

Local county councillor Cath Homer provided protective gloves and bin bags for the residents’ work day, having previously arranged an inspection of the road drains by a Northumberland County Council engineer.

Coun. Homer said it was essential that groups worked together to reduce the impact of flooding.

“It is very inspiring to see local people working together to find local solutions,” she said. “With more extreme weather patterns predicted in the future it is essential that local authorities, communities and landowners work together to reduce the impact of flooding on local people and critical infrastructure such as roads.”

The stream has its source high above the Kitty Frisk Estate in the Dukeshouse Woods and then flows downhill through the old Bogle Hole Pond, and eventually crosses under Corbridge Road to reach the River Tyne.