AS the recent heavy rain and wind battered the borough, even one of the borough's highest points couldn't escape unscathed.

A section of the 11th century Dudley Castle’s courtyard - 730 ft above sea level - remained underwater for most of the day yesterday as torrential rain lashed down on Dudley Zoo.

Chief executive Peter Suddock said: “The rains were particularly heavy late morning and flash flooding cut off a section of the courtyard where staff were working on Santa's Grotto, creating a small lake.

"Maintenance staff managed to clear the area and diverted the water into the moat drains by the sealion pools, which took a couple of hours, but we've had so much rain throughout recent months that it simply couldn't drain away naturally."

He added: "It's time to worry when you get flooding at 730ft above sea level but, thankfully, it's now all been cleared and the rest of the site was unaffected."