When there is no alternative, you just have to leg it. One memorable image of the awful floods a couple of weeks ago was, above, at Lanchester, near Durham City, where surface water flooded Front Street, causing a number of businesses to close. Houses in the village's Victoria Terrace were threatened with the possibility of the River Browney bursting its banks.
Emergency services found surface water lapping at the sills of shop windows in Front Street.
The floods were made worse by drain blockages caused by fallen leaves. At one stage, four appliances were pumping 10,000 litres a minute into the River Browney.
The same night, the main A690 road between Durham and Sunderland was affected by surface water. Flooding cut off the slip road from Belmont on to the A690 and the road was waterlogged at Carrville.
In Durham City, the Wear breached its banks at several points around the peninsula.
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