SHOPS and businesses in Tenbury have for the most post had a narrow escape.

After some of the highest river levels seen in a decade brought water lapping into the town there were fears of a repeat of the horrors of more than 10 years ago.

Although there was some minor damage and inconvenience it was in the end a case of mopping up rather than having to use pumps or buckets.

But it was a close-run thing and at one-point fears of a repeat of floods that washed away the public toilets and closed businesses were all too real.

At the end of a wet week the situation reached a climax on Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Overnight on Saturday the level of the River Teme reached 5.4 metres, prompting the second highest level of warning representing flooding of properties, roads and farmland.

However, it did not reach the point at which there was regarded to be a danger to life.

There was flood water in Market Street and Teme Street as well as on the A4112 and A4333 at Eastham that was for a time almost impassable.

People became increasingly anxious during Saturday as they watched the river almost reach the point at which it was flowing over the roadway on the Teme Bridge.

Some kept watch overnight fearing the worst, but Sunday morning brought relief as the rain stopped and river levels both on the Teme and Kyre Brook started to fall slowly.

But the Environment Agency warned residents and businesses in the town that there was still a risk and that the water would remain high throughout the weekend even if there was no more rainfall.

Even after the floods started the recede people were advised to keep clear of the heavy swollen river and streams.

Engineers from the Environment Agency were sent out to inspect flood defences, but the incident was a reminder that a decade after the last major flood the town is still largely unprotected.

Successive attempts by the Town Council and Member of Parliament Harriett Baldwin to secure funding for a proper flood defence scheme have drawn a blank.

Funding bids for a scheme that was costed at £5 million 10 years ago did not meet Government rules.

Eric Hudson is the fifth Mayor of Tenbury to call for action.

He has suggested that local skills and farmers might be able to come up with some form of DIY solution in the absence of properly funded and designed flood defences.

But experts have warned that partial flood defences could diverting water from one part of the town at the expense of another.

Alternatives to a flood wall around Tenbury, such as dredging the bed of the river to make it deeper or trying to create flood water storage on farmland upstream of the town have been ruled out because they simply would not work.