HELP could be on its way to a village at the centre of the flooding crisis.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council held an executive meeting yesterday to see what Government help could be made available to the stricken east Cleveland village of Skinningrove.

Yesterday, the council advised many residents to evacuate to an emergency centre at Rosecroft School, Loftus, for their own safety. Many refused to leave their homes.

The problem is that the beck, which runs through the centre of the village, is not classed as a river and does not qualify for Government help.

The council is considering options aimed at improving flood defences in the village and conditions at other troublespots around the borough.

The authority is also planning to lobby the borough's two MPs, Mo Mowlam and Ashok Kumar, to get the Environment Agency to confer main river status on the beck.

Options being considered are the installation of four screens upstream to catch the debris, a new humpback bridge, one metre high reinforced concrete flood walls, floodgates across Stone Row Bridge and storm drains at the heads of Stone Row and Zetland Row.

The flood situation in other areas of Redcar and Cleveland looked to be stabilising yesterday after council workers battled against the chaos, after tankers pumped out water to keep the roads open.

Meanwhile, social services workers decided they could not transport people to the borough's centres for learning disabilities or to centres for elderly people.

Schools are expected to be open today, apart from Rosecroft School, which is open to Years 10 and 11 only, Rye Hills at Redcar because there is no heating, Kirkleatham Hall, Redcar and Kilton Thorpe School, Brotton, because there is no transport and there is no nursery at Lingdale and Lockwood, Boosbeck.

The council's chief executive, Colin Moore, praised council workers who have worked almost without a break since last Thursday.

Councillor Dave McLuckie also praised the borough's community spirit - highlighting residents in Carlin How.

"We took them a ten-ton load of sand and they bagged it themselves for their properties," he said.

l To find out about flooding problems in the area, or to report a problem, call the council's technical services customer services helpline on (01642) 444789.

Meanwhile, traders suffered from minor floods and one shop had to close at Castlegate Shopping Centre, Stockton, yesterday.

Several roads across Hartlepool were closed, and Yarm remained on flood alert, despite decreasing fears the River Tees would spill into the High Street. Stockton Borough Council put buses on standby to evacuate people and nine tonnes of sandbags were ready to provide a defence. Conyers School is on standby to take in any evacuees.

The council is also monitoring the River Leven and Lustrum Beck, in Stockton.

l Residents throughout the Stockton borough, who need sandbags, can call the Security and Surveillance Centre on (01642) 674396