RESIDENTS watched helplessly as the River Gaunless crept dangerously close to homes still recovering from flooding earlier in the year.

An emergency refuge was set up in a Bishop Auckland school yesterday for South Church residents forced to abandon their homes.

By the afternoon severe flood warnings were issued for the river, which had flooded the village six months ago.

People were advised to evacuate their homes and a crisis centre set up at King James First Community College.

A resident whose home was yards from the river said she would not leave her home for fear of looters.

"You daren't leave your homes. If the water comes in we'll go upstairs. I've just had my new carpets in my home a fortnight. The majority of us here want to move. Every time it rains we're scared it's going to happen again."

Resident Kathy Eltis said she had been helping other people sandbag their homes. "There's been young people scrabbling with their hands to fill sandbags. There's nothing to transport them with and they're too heavy to lift."

Ali Shakir and his family worked hard to try and ensure their shop's stock would not be destroyed in a flood.

They had taken 20 weeks to repair the store, which had been hit by floods six months earlier. The newly refurbished store has been open for just over a week.

Speaking from the emergency centre at the school, headteacher Ed Lott said: "This crisis wasn't supposed to happen until this time tomorrow, but it's rained so hard the Gaunless could burst its banks.

"Now we are no longer a school, but an emergency centre. The children are going home as normal today, but they won't be coming in tomorrow."

Wear Valley District Council distributed 6,000 sandbags and 60 tonnes of sand. Acting director of technical services Brian Robinson said: "Everybody is screaming for sandbags, that's a problem now.

"People are ringing from all over the place."

River levels were expected to peak between 1am and 3am this morning.

Residents in West Auckland were also fearful that their homes would be hit again.

Bishop Auckland MP Derek Foster said he was in constant talks with the Environment Agency and would be speaking with Government ministers.

He said: "It's an extremely alarming situation for the villagers of South Church and West Auckland."