HOUSEHOLDERS and businesses were continuing the big clean-up today after floods wreaked havoc across the region.

Homes were inundated, schools and shops forced to close and roads became rivers as the worst floods for decades brought towns and villages to a grinding halt.

A Northallerton school which opened only two months ago played its part in answering an emergency caused by the flooding.

One of the worst affected schools in the county was Brompton community primary at Northallerton, forced to close after 2ft of water entered the buildings.

While the damage was being assessed, classes resumed yesterday with pupils distributed around various sites in Brompton and Northallerton.

The reception class was accommodated in Brompton Methodist church hall and year one at Alverton infants. Year two used rooms at the new Sacred Heart Roman Catholic school in Broomfield Avenue, Northallerton; years three and four were being educated at Brompton rugby club, and years five and six used two temporary buildings normally employed for meetings at county hall, close to the Sacred Heart site.

Sacred Heart school, which took its first pupils in September after it had gone through a controversial planning and development process, offered the use of its playground as well as its hall for PE and assemblies.

Ms Bernadette Jones, head of policy and development in the county education department, could not say when the school was likely to reopen. An assessment had to be made of flood damage to carpets, furniture, skirting boards, the surface of the floor and general decoration.

Ms Jones said: "There has been a fantastic team effort to get everything organised as quickly as this."

Another school affected by flooding was Alanbrooke county primary, Topcliffe, which has been given alternative accommodation by the army until the end of term. Another site has also been found for Sharow school, near Ripon.

Mr David Fishburn, head teacher at Bedale CE primary school, closed the buildings for the first time in his ten-year tenure last Friday because staff living as far away as Darlington, Boroughbridge and Helmsley were kept at home by flooded roads.

In St John's Close, off Thirsk Road, Northallerton, residents who have stayed in their homes were dreading the prospect of more rain after suffering their second soaking in a week. Between 15 and 20 homes had to be pumped out by firefighters last week after water flooded the estate from nearby fields. Firefighters were back on Monday to deal with more flooding after a brief weekend respite, and on Wednesday a skip lorry was removing the sodden remains of carpets dumped outside houses on waterlogged lawns.

The Friarage hospital in Northallerton had to cancel all operations for a while.

The operating theatre suffered slight flooding after Turker Beck burst its banks on Thursday evening.

Operations manager Mr Steve Spoerry said operations were cancelled while staff coped with the aftermath. "They spent most of the day cleaning the area and equipment caught up in it," he said.

Miss Anne McIntosh, MP for the Vale of York, will today tour areas in her constituency that were affected by flooding. She will meet people in Thirsk and see the impact of the floods on property and infrastructure.

She will be at the Golden Fleece in Thirsk at 2pm.

l Comprehensive floods round-up, page 3