IT took just minutes to sweep through but it destroyed the homes and lives of residents in a North-East village.

Yesterday, devastated families in Skinningrove, east Cleveland, were trying to come to terms with the chaos caused when floods wrecked their homes on Sunday morning.

In weather that was more reminiscent of winter rather than summer, it was only just beginning to sink in that some had lost everything.

Jean Purver, 64, has lived in Skinningrove all her life and was tearful as she and her two sons cleared away the mud and sewage which destroyed the contents of her home.

She said: "I am absolutely gutted. I just don't know what I am going to do. I was in the kitchen when I heard a gushing noise. I thought 'Whatever is that?' and went through to my sitting room and it was just gushing in."

Mrs Purver said she had no time to save anything before she was forced to leave the house, while sons Ian, 39, and Graham, 36, waded chest deep in the water to help lifeboat crews rescue elderly neighbours trapped in their homes.

Ian said: "We had to lift one old lady out and she was just so frightened. We've lost everything, but people come first. It just happened that quickly - people were shouting for help."

Stephen Kay and Bruce Mackenzie, councillors for Skinningrove, said they had warned this could happen two years ago.

Coun Kay said they had asked the council to raise a low bridge because it caused problems when logs got into the village beck, blocking the flow and causing a dam.

Coun David Walsh, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said the flood caught everyone by surprise.

"We can never completely remove the possibility of further flash floods. The onus is clearly on us to be looking to upgrade the beck infrastructure to try and see that this does not happen again.

"I have asked our engineers to do some urgent work on possible flood defence measures which may involve raising banks and redesigning footbridges."

A spokesman for Redcar and Cleveland Council said the authority intended to set up an emergency fund of £100,000 to help the residents.