Almost 200 households in a Northumberland town badly hit by floods earlier this month were failed by the Environment Agency’s early-warning system.

More than 25% of the 721 households in Morpeth registered with the EA’s Floodline Direct service were not contacted when the River Wansbeck burst its banks. The agency did alert 520 registered households but, due to an error in the emergency incident room, the system missed out 198 registered households.

Area flood risk manager, Ian Hodge, said: ‘We are hugely sympathetic to all residents and businesses who have been hit by this devastating flood, and we apologise for any additional inconvenience that might have been caused through not receiving our warning.’