A MONTH after floods devastated the east Cleveland village of Skinnningrove, residents are coming to terms with the traumatising events which changed their lives.

It took just minutes for the floods to destroy homes as rivers of mud and sewage swept through the village without warning.

Now shock and upset is turning to anger. Residents had been campaigning to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council for years to get the beck cleaned, claiming the village would be flooded.

Their fears were realised on the morning of July 2 when the beck burst its banks.

Slowly, life in the community is starting to come back together, and the point at which residents will be able to move back into their homes and return to some degree of normality is now in sight.

On the day of the flood, Jean Purver surveyed the devastation in her home with sadness and disbelief. One month on and her house has been cleared of the mud, and builders are working hard to get it ready for her to move back in about six weeks' time.

She is busy choosing new furniture and new electrical items, but says it is the personal effects and photographs which she cannot replace.

She said: "I have to get everything again - I still can't believe any of it happened.

"It really knocks you, and you never know how you feel from one minute to the next, or how you are going to feel when you wake up. I can't explain the emotions I feel."

Parish councillor Stephanie Asplin-Wakefield said: "This is going to stay with them for ever. People are very frightened that it is going to happen again. We all have nightmares every time it rains. It has brought this close-knit community even closer. People are more aware of other people's problems and where people need help. I have never known a community like it."

Coun Asplin-Wakefield has set up an office at Mrs Purver's house to act as a focal point for the village, and to provide as much help and support as she can.

She says the residents are unhappy the local council did not heed their advice, and although they have been quite happy with the way the council responded to the emergency, they will not be satisfied until there have been improvements to the beck.

"Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council are doing a report from their engineers. We want our own independent report, but that is going to cost £2,500 for two days' work."

Andy Hyams, the council's deputy director of technical services, said the council was waiting for the report by a specialist hydrologist, which is expected later this month.

He said the report had already highlighted that when three inches of rain fell in a few hours it would overwhelm any flood defence system.

"This was something like a one in every 350-year occurance," he said. "It was like a wall of water coming into the village. There had been minor flooding before, but this was completely different."

Mr Hyams said the council would be talking to the villagers to discuss the council's emergency action plan, which was put into operation following the disaster.

He said: "There is always something we can learn.