This is my second attempt in writing about the flood warnings at Prudhoe.

I think the flood wardens are missing the point.

Travelling back to Prudhoe over the bridge I looked west, and I was amazed how high the gravel banks had risen in the middle of the river, a sure sign that the Bridge End buildings could be flooded at Ovingham.

As a retired haulage contractor, I was sometimes asked to haul ballast from the Tyne at Low Prudhoe by the Ryton Gravel Company.

This incurred a dragline machine making a road into the middle of the river and dredging ballast out.

The operator knew the bucket depth as it had three sides attached to the machine rope by a six foot chain.

When he hit clay he pulled the road out and moved down the river repeating the process.

As Ryton Gravel no longer exists, the dredging no longer gets done.

Ronnie Storey

Prudhoe