A PART-COMPLETED flood defence looks like it may have passed its first major test after 400 homes were saved from flooding yesterday.

People living in South Church, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, were bracing themselves for another disaster after the region suffered torrential rain throughout the night on Thursday.

But last night they breathed a sigh of relief as it looked like the £8.7m flood defence scheme along the River Gaunless had done its job.

The Environment Agency said that homes in the village had been saved because of walls built along the river and a part-completed dam at Spring Gardens. Some gardens at South Church were swamped, however.

People living in nearby West Auckland and Hummerbeck were not as fortunate, as 40 homes were flooded after Oakley Cross Beck burst its banks.

Peter Kerr, area flood defence manager for the Environment Agency, said: "While we are pleased that part of the defences have been able to do their job protecting properties, I am sorry that this unseasonable weather has meant that people in West Auckland have suffered.

"The whole scheme is due for completion by the end of this year, so, hopefully, this is the last time the people of West Auckland will be affected by water from Oakley Cross Beck."

The flood defence scheme on the Gaunless was designed after heavy rain in 2000 saw hundreds of homes in South Church and West Auckland under water. The whole of South Church had to be evacuated by firefighters using boats and many homes in West Auckland also suffered.

Work began last year on an earth dam that the Environment Agency said would hold back millions of gallons of water. It now says a 40ft wall will plug a valley near West Auckland and stem the flow of the Gaunless.

However, many residents remained sceptical and said the defences were not high enough.

Susan Wedgewood and her husband, Keith, both 51, had just got their garden back to the way they wanted it after flood defences were built around their home in Gaunless Terrace, South Church.

Yesterday, the garden was filled with raw sewage and, at one point, she feared she could lose her home for the second time.

She said: "I suppose it has worked to a degree, but we still have concerns. Nobody in the street went to work today because we are all worried.

"We have put some things upstairs but you cannot exactly carry a three-piece suite up there."