Risk news

A builder escaped injury after a wall collapsed during a flood, it has been revealed.

The Sunderland Echo reported that Maurice Ramsden was decorating a cottage while the owners were on holiday when a 10 foot stone embankment crashed into the garden.

When the wall collapsed, floodwater surged from nearby fields and roads into the cottage, in Rowley, near Consett, County Durham.

Mr Ramsden told the newspaper he could hear the heavy rain and could see the path quickly filling up with water.

"I stayed upstairs and phoned the fire brigade and wasn't sure how I'd get out because I thought the front door was blocked," he said.

Government advice forum Business Link noted that employees should be trained with how to deal with flooding, such as how to evacuate a building safely.