THOUSANDS of householders across the region are facing an anxious morning as rivers threaten to break their banks and swamp yet more homes.

The misery looks set to continue, with floods in Teesside, North Yorkshire and County Durham expected to peak this morning.

Across the country, the death toll from the current wave of storms reached 12 after a tree fell on a car in "atrocious" conditions in Herefordshire, killing two passengers and critically injuring the driver.

A band of heavy rain is now concentrated over the North-East and North Yorkshire, said PA WeatherCentre forecaster Paul Knightley.

"We've had the worst of the heavy rain but the system will hang around for a few days, gradually getting more patchy," he added.

"But any more rain in areas like North Yorkshire is potentially very bad news."

In Cleveland, there were fears that Yarm High Street might have to be closed to traffic last night after the Tees rose six inches in 20 minutes.

Cleveland Police warned businesses and families to move themselves and valuable possessions to upper floors as the river threatened to breach the town's defences.

The village of Skinningrove was evacuated again, with 100 people told to leave their homes, although flood defences held out.

Schools across Cleveland were closed, 13 roads were closed and hundreds of council workers sent home early.

River levels were rising in Yorkshire, with 30mm (about one inch) of rain in the upper reaches of all rivers in North Yorkshire.

York was again "on a knife's edge" as a second wave of major flooding was predicted.

While the level of the River Ouse was going down, experts were expecting it to rise again throughout the rest of today and tomorrow to peak at 5.2 metres above normal - close to the levels it reached last week.

One district council introduced a tractor and trailer "bus" service between the market towns of Norton and Malton, which were cut off by the River Derwent.

"People were running very low on supplies and needed to get out and about to go shopping, collect prescriptions and check on relatives," said a council spokesman.

"The service is proving vital in helping the community get back on its feet."

In County Durham, the beleaguered residents of South Church were facing an anxious wait as the River Gaunless rose, while Croft Bridge, near Darlington, was closed.

Countryside Minister Elliot Morley told the House of Commons yesterday that the Environment Agency is to be asked for a full report on lessons to be learned from the widespread flooding across England.

"We cannot stop all flooding, just reduce its risk," said the minister.

"The recent floods have overwhelmed some defences. It would not have been practicable to have stopped them.

"It would have required massive walls which, even if they could have been constructed and afforded, would be unlikely to be acceptable visually or environmentally."

Once the immediate work had been completed, the Environment Agency would be ordered to produce a swift report on the flooding, and what immediate lessons can be learned.

Last night, a record number of severe flood warnings was issued by the Environment Agency.

Across the country, 41 of the severe alerts are now in effect on 27 rivers - the highest since the new warning system was introduced in September - with 250 lesser warnings in place.

The North-East was particularly badly hit, with the number of severe warnings in the region rising to 12.

On Tyneside, police appealed to motorists to leave their cars at home last night after severe problems caused by flooding in Tyneside.

Regional round-up - Page