On September 6, 2008, more than 150mm of rain — the town's average monthly total — fell on Morpeth in just 48 hours.

The River Wansbeck burst its banks, burns overflowed and surface water added to the problems, leaving 1,000 homes and properties flooded, with roads, services and four electricity substations also affected.

Today, it is thought that all of the victims have been able to return home, but two years on and the town is still waiting for a £17m flood alleviation scheme to be put in place.

Morpeth Flood Action Group (MFAG) Chairman Alan Bell said: "It is not really a happy anniversary. Every time it rains a huge proportion of the population of Morpeth starts to worry.

"Most residents of the town have responded well due to the unique community spirit that has been much admired by various bodies involved in the recovery.

"Now that everybody is back home we want to get back to normal, but we are still waiting for the flood alleviation scheme.

"The funding submission will go in in November, but no decision will be made until February and our concern is that possible Government cut-backs will be announced in October so we don't know whether the Environment Agency will be cutting back its capital expenditure.

"However, we are reasonably confident that the scheme will go ahead."

The group is in discussions with Northumberland County Council and Northumbrian Water to try to address surface water flooding and is contributing to a Flood Action Plan.

It is also working with Morpeth Town Council and the Morpeth and District Chamber of Trade to draft a policy on flood insurance, which will be presented to the Government as a basis for a national scheme to try to tackle soaring premiums and excesses.

"Insurance is still a big issue and we are working on a proposal for the future of insurance, which will hopefully be put forward at the Government summit on September 16 to be discussed," said Mr Bell.

"Insurance issues have a big effect on the whole community because if people can't get insurance house prices could fall and there could be a blight in the town."

The group is currently campaigning to ensure flood concerns are taken into account in any developments, such as the Low Stanners supermarket plans.

It continues to support the Environment Agency flood warden scheme, is compiling an archive of the 2008 disaster and holds regular meetings.

Mr Bell said: "Our aim is to keep the community aware of the issues and make sure that the various bodies are working to provide a scheme so that hopefully such an event will never happen again."

The Environment Agency is working on plans for the main flood alleviation scheme, which will include an upstream water storage system and town centre flood walls, subject to funding approval.

However, it has already spent £2.25m on essential work and repairs in Morpeth since the disaster.

Work has included replacing the stone facing of a wall in Carlisle View, replacing waterproof seals on flood walls, rebuilding a privately-owned wall in New Market car park and removing debris and silt from culverts, as well as strengthening their walls and replacing a roof section. The last of the work was completed in May.

Tonnes of gravel were removed near Oldgate Bridge and a new evacuation route was created in High Stanners, funded by the Northumbria Regional Flood Defence Committee.

Senior Flood Risk Engineer Phil Welton said: "A huge amount of work has been done in Morpeth since the floods of 2008.

"The town is better prepared for flooding now than it has ever been thanks to the work of residents, landowners and the flood action group.

"More still needs to be done though and we are continuing to plan the proposed flood defence scheme.

"However, we can never prevent flooding altogether so it is vital that people check to see if they are in a vulnerable area and log onto the Environment Agency website to find out how they can protect themselves."

Meanwhile, Northumberland County Council is working on a proposal to address surface water flooding.

The council cleans highways gullies in Morpeth four times a year, compared to the county standard of once a year, and is designing a scheme to intercept surface water flowing down the A197 to Middle Greens by providing additional drainage and discharging the flows into the Church Burn, possibly at Mafeking Roundabout, or the Postern Burn near the Waterford Lodge.

It intends to carry out the work by the end of March.

The authority has also submitted two grant bids to the Environment Agency to investigate increasing the surface water capacity on the Church Burn and Cotting Burn, which would be timed to co-ordinate with the main flood scheme.