A three-year-old girl has had a miraculous escape after being swept 150ft along an underground storm drain.

The quick-thinking father of Leona Baxter has been hailed a hero for saving her life.

The toddler was with her parents, Mark Baxter, 34, and Beverley Baxter, 32, and her six-year-old sister Kiah at Riverside Park in Chester le Street, Co Durham, where they were walking the family dog, Brophy.

Leona was paddling in six inches of flood water in the park when she suddenly disappeared down an uncovered drain that had been concealed by the water, quickly followed by Brophy.

Mr Baxter, an RAF sergeant, realised she would be swept along the storm drain into the nearby River Wear, which was swollen by flood water.

He said: "I ran across to the river. I seen what I thought was Leona's coat."

"It wasn't just her coat, it was Leona face down in the river. I jumped in, grabbed her. The water got up to about my shoulder level and I put her across my shoulders.

"I started patting her back to try and make her breath because she wasn't breathing when I pulled her out of the water. I managed to pass Leona, who was coughing and spluttering and crying, and as I passed her over she was sick and lots of water came out.

"I gave her to Bev, who was in the river, but much more nearer the bank than me."

Paramedics attended the scene and treated the girl for hypothermia before she was taken by ambulance to the University Hospital of North Durham where she was kept in overnight.

Police said Brophy, a boxer-mastiff cross, is still missing.

Sergeant Keith Wardle said: "Fortunately, when the girl and her dog disappeared, the dad quickly realised what was happening, ran to the river bank and plucked her from the swollen river.

"She had travelled about 150ft underground through the flooded drain and the action of her and the dog through the drain seems to have unblocked it."

The torrential rains which lashed the country over the weekend may have eased off but forecasters have warned of more floods to come.

At least six people died in weather-related incidents across the country.

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