Emergency rescuers help five people stranded on boats in flooded River Nene in Northampton centre

Emergency services have rescued five boat owners and a dog after a river burst its banks during ongoing flooding.

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue were called to the River Nene in Northampton town centre at 6.23 am this morning, after reports of a boat getting into difficulty in the water.

A spokesperson from the service said: "On arrival, firefighters found that the river had breeched the side of the bank and liaised with the owner of the boat to offer him safety advice.

"Crews spoke to all the boat owners at the scene and following advice from firefighters, three occupants were assisted from their boats on to dry land."

They also confirmed than a narrowboat sunk during the flooding yesterday, but no one was reported to be on board.

Shortly afterwards, at 7.13am, crews were re-located to Old Towcester Road where they found two boats becoming submerged by fast moving water.

Crews, including Swiftwater Rescue Technicians, used rafts to rescue two people and a dog from the boats, before leading them to safety.

Boat owner Ian Bates blames the recent flooding on climate change and said he's been waiting for something like this to happen.

He said: "I noticed something was wrong about 30 years ago, because this is all to do with the climate crisis. This is the reason we've got flooding here, the reason we've got wildfires."

"Every day I've been waiting for this to happen. Today's the day that it's my life directly, where my boat is at jeopardy," he added.

Mr Bates has spent the day trying to protect boats along the river bank by pinning them to make sure they don't get caught on the bank as the water goes down.

"When this water recedes, if my boat doesn't come off the bank, and gets stuck, it's sunk. An my household and all my belongings will go with it," he said."It's insured so that's all good, but that's not the point is it?"All my personal belongings are on there, family photograph albums. I've been trying to save things but you can't take everything off your boat."

Elsewhere along the river, Sapphire Blurton and Lee Mills, who were staying on a boat for the first time last night, have praised the quick action of the Fire and Rescue service.

They were woken around 6.30am by firefighters banging on their door.

Mr Mills said: "They got us on to a little raft and pulled us on to the pathway and rescued us basically. So we're quite lucky, cos there are other boats that sank."

Ms Blurton described the emergency response as "fantastic".

"When I first saw them I had a slight panic, but when they helped me up on to the raft I thought actually there's nothing to panic about," she said."I'm grateful that they came to help us off and managed to get us somewhere safe," she added.

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service said it received 160 calls yesterday, with over a hundred being weather related.

33 needed a response from the Fire Service and the other 72 were given advice over the phone or did not require attendance.

Among the incidents attended, crews assisted a neighbouring fire service in the rescue of a person trapped in a car in Biddlesden, helped staff evacuate people from the University of Northampton campus, and attended a fire underground, believed to be caused by water damage in Beech Grove, Northampton.

In a statement, the service advised people to take care while driving, warning that there may be hazards under water that aren’t visible.

They added: "Please continue to follow warnings and safety advice given by the Fire Service and other local agencies."

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know