BELEAGUERED homeowners are continuing a huge clean-up operation today after flash floods wreaked havoc for the second time in a week.

Dozens of houses are still under water and families in temporary accommodation after the storms which battered the east coast of North Yorkshire during the weekend. Fire crews were stretched to the limit as they received more than 400 calls for emergency help in eight hours on Saturday.

The Scarborough and Filey areas bore the brunt of torrential downpours which swamped homes and left motorists trapped in their cars as roads became impossible to travel on.

In Scarborough, which suffered in last week's floods, a woman was rescued from her car by an off-duty police officer, and a couple with a baby were saved from their vehicle by emergency workers.

Anxious residents were seen filling sandbags on the beach, as well as taking deliveries from local authorities.

The A165 road out of Scarborough was under 6ft of water at one stage and train services between the town and Malton were cancelled.

The Salvation Army was called into action, setting up a hostel to offer refuge to 50 Cayton Bay residents who fled their homes.

The rain gradually subsided and roads were reopened, but the cost of clearing up after the region's latest floods will prove enormous.

A family fun day, due to take place at Redcar Racecourse yesterday, was cancelled because of the bad weather.

An estimated 9,000 people were expected to attend the event, which is sponsored by The Northern Echo and its sister paper, The East Cleveland Advertiser.

Racecourse manager John Gundill said the track was heavily waterlogged, so races would have been unable to take place.

Anyone who bought tickets should contact the racecourse on (01642) 484068.

In County Durham, Sedgefield Show went ahead despite heavy rain, with organisers relieved that this year's event was free from foot-and-mouth disease.

Last night, the fire chief who directed the North Yorkshire service's emergency responses warned that there could be more rain to come, and urged homeowners to take immediate action.

Divisional Officer Dave Hall said: "There is a great deal that people can do for themselves. As we are experiencing flooding in mid-summer, I feel it would be prudent for people to think to the future and the possibility that this will reoccur later in the year.

"I suggest that people who live in flood-prone areas give consideration to creating an emergency plan if their homes should be affected by flooding."

The chaotic scenes were a repeat of those only a week ago, when parts of County Durham were washed out and some areas of North Yorkshire had a month's rainfall in 12 hours.

The Environment Agency had removed all flood warnings by last night.

An agency spokesman said: "Fingers crossed we are not going to get as many problems as last week.

"Between 25mm and 30mm of rain fell in the 24 hours from Thursday night to early Saturday morning. That is not as much as we had last week.

"The river levels are rising because the land is saturated, but we are not expecting them to rise much further. At the moment we are not anticipating too many problems."