Storm Ciarán: Lanchester shop owner fears more flooding after finding hats 'swimming' in water

A businesswoman who found her high-end hats floating in eight inches of water at the weekend has said she is worried about more rain causing further damage.

Carley Jackson, who owns Get Ahead Hats, in Lanchester, County Durham, said her shop flooded following the deluge of rain on Sunday 29 October.

Front Street was submerged in water, with a number of homes and businesses in the village affected.

Ms Jackson said: "It was quite scary that it came in so fast, within the space of a couple of hours. We came in and it was completely ruined. I just had a new carpet.

"Where I am based I didn't expect it to come into the shop because we're on quite a little ramp so that shows how deep the water was.

"When you see back on video of the water coming down the bank it was quite fast - no wonder it filled up so quick.

"I probably had eight inches of water in here. When you think how high up it is, it is quite scary. It's really worrying it might happen again."

With storm Ciarán expected to bring further rain this week, she is concerned she may face more flooding.

She said: "That's the problem this week. We know the storm is coming and today we've had to call the council because the drains were filling up again. If we get a little bit more of that weather that we've had on Saturday night then it is a worry for this week."

She added: "I'm a very small business and I have a lot of expensive hats that have cost me a lot of money over the last eight years of being here.

"When I walked in and saw how many were on the floor, swimming in water it's quite frightening. That was my main panic, what have I lost?"

Since the flooding on Sunday, work has been taking place in Lanchester to investigate what caused it and to remove debris from the drains.

Anthea Smith, Durham County Council’s highways services manager, said: “The investigations into the cause of Sunday’s flood are still ongoing.

“We have a regular gully cleansing programme in place and following the flood our gully motors have been out to remove any further debris that had collected in the drains.

“We are encouraging the public if they spot a flooded road or blocked drain, to please report it to us via ‘Do it Online’ on our website.”

A yellow weather warning for rain is in place across the North East on Thursday and Friday.

Storm Ciarán has already been causing disruption in other parts of the country.

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