Sandbags given to villagers amid flooding fear at Glasson Dock

Sandbags were delivered to homes and businesses

Residents in a village at the mouth of a tidal river have been delivered sandbags amid fears over flooding after a sea gate was broken during engineering work.

As a "precaution", the Environment Agency (EA) said it had visited homes and businesses around Glasson Dock near Lancaster ahead of expected high tides.

Engineers had hoped to raise and close the broken gate, using winch equipment but they were unable to do so.

It is part of wider flood defences.

One resident, Dr Sally Watson, a Lancaster University academic, who lives in a block of flats at the former Caribou pub, next to the inner dock, said: "There are 150 sandbags delivered to the homes here. I don't think there will be enough for the port.

"We're putting sandbags up against our doors and cellars but I think a better place would have been the new metal wire fence that's been put up around the port.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she felt she had only had "general copy-and-paste advice" with "no detailed instructions whatsoever", adding: "I just hope the tides don't get too high over the weekend."

Local Tony Young says several factors need to be in place to create flooding

Tony Young, 62, who has lived in Glasson Dock all his life, said he remembered "massive flooding" in 1977 which had also impacted Morecambe, but a few things were needed for flooding "such as high winds and high river levels".

"We've had updated flood defences since 2000 but people can still panic about flooding.

"Some houses are on lower land and have basements, which can get flooded."

Special winch equipment was erected to attempt to raise the sea gate but it remained stuck meaning tides can flow in and out.

The EA said if the existing hydraulic gate mechanism could be repaired, work would take approximately 12 weeks but if a new mechanism was needed, it was likely to be approximately eight months.

Glasson Dock is at the mouth of the River Lune

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [e-mail]