THE Environment Agency last night issued a Flood Watch warning on the River Swale at Brompton-on-Swale, near Richmond, North Yorkshire.

Flooding was reported at the village's caravan park.

Torrential rain also brought heavy flooding to Weardale, in County Durham, yesterday.

Worst hit was the stretch of the A689 between Stanhope and Westgate, where driving conditions were made hazardous by floodwaters bursting through dry-stone walls, leaving deep pools of water.

Fields near the River Wear were flooded, making working conditions difficult for farmers.

Appalling weather also hindered a call out by Cleveland Search and Rescue yesterday morning.

Volunteers from the team were in action for the 21st time this year when they were called to assist the ambulance service help a 67-year-old walker on the moors above Guisborough, in east Cleveland.

The drama started at 10.30am when the man was leading a group of walkers from Stockton on one of their regular walks from Pinchinthorpe, on the outskirts of Guisborough.

As the group reached one of the highest part of their route in Guisborough forest, the man collapsed with chest pains.

The ambulance service was alerted by a mobile phone and they asked the volunteer mountain rescue team for assistance due to the remote location of the incident.

Twenty members of the team responded to the call out in driving wind and rain, and the man was reached by driving along the forestry tracks in the team's four-wheel drive vehicles. He was made comfortable by an ambulance paramedic and a rescue team doctor, before he was carried 400m to the waiting land rover for transport to the county ambulance.

He was taken to the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough