STORMS and high tides conspired to cause chaos across the Lancaster and Morecambe area on Friday.

St George' s Quay in the city centre was completely flooded, while waves battered the resort's promenade, with damage particularly serious in the Sandylands area of Heysham.

Robert Mason, co-owner of Simply French restaurant on the Quay, said they were forced to cancel more than 70 bookings for the Friday night and will need to replace the wooden floors.

However, he said that the council and the Environment Agency did all they could to ease the blow.

"We were happy with the sandbagging and so on.

What else could they do?" said Mr Mason: "The Environment Agency was very good.

We had a good four hours warning of the flooding, unfortunately, it just wasn't enough."

Lancaster City Council says recent flood defence works helped to limit the amount of damage caused.

Jim Robson, head of engineering for the council said: "In recent year, residents of St George's Quay have considered a number of flood defence options proposed by the city council, but no scheme has been accepted.

"A partial scheme introducing two large road humps, one at either end of the Quay, is nearing completion, and it was sufficiently far advanced to prevent flood water moving from the Quay into Lune Road and the city centre.

"The Sandylands area of Heysham will be protected by phases six and seven of Morecambe Coastal Works, but funding for this scheme has been delayed to allow consideration of an objection by English Nature about the effect of any proposals on the special wildlife habitats in Morecambe Bay." Lancaster City county councillor, Jonathan Sear, said events such as this are likely to become more common as a result of global climate change

Cllr Sear said: "We should take this as a wake up call and take seriously the Environment Agency's proposals for managing these tidal surges.

"This could mean acquiring farmland onto which the floodwaters can deliberately be diverted - this land ended up flooding anyway when the embankment at Marsh Point burst.

It could allow valuable wildlife habitats to be created where people can enjoy them at the same time as protecting property."

He also called for longer-term action to reduce pollution from cars and factories.