It’s been 6 weeks since the North East was once again subjected to lashings of water falling from the sky, flooding homes and businesses across the North East.

Newburn in Newcastle was one of the worst hit, because the rain exacerbated a problem hundreds of people were already dealing with – an underground culvert had collapsed in May and the temporary drainage system put in place during the long process of fixing it couldn’t cope with heavy rain.

A block of flats had to be knocked down after the land around it’s foundations was washed away. That’s now down, ahead of schedule.

I’ve been to see how the village is coping 6 weeks on:

Northumberland Estates, who own the culvert, say they’ve now made a breakthrough: they’ve drilled down to the top of the culvert, which is the first step in repairing it and finding out how it collapsed. That is crucial in deciding who’s responsible for paying for all this damage.