Leader of Newcastle City Council, Cllr Nick Forbes, said "The unprecedented weather has caused people distress and disruption across the city and our region.
"Staff from the city council and the emergency services have responded magnificently going out of their way to help people however the clean up is going to be long and costly and we are only just starting to understand the scale of damage.
"It will be a good idea to check on your neighbours to make sure that they are ok, particularly if they are older or you know that they may need a friendly word."
A council spokesman said: "The exceptionally heavy rainfall has caused severe floods and traffic disruption across the city and the region.
"We are working with the police and other agencies to try and respond to these floods but it is proving very difficult due to the fact that, like many motorists, we are having difficulty moving around the city.
"We have tried to prioritise clearing major roads to help emergency services and reduce congestion. We are still in the process of pumping huge of amounts of water from several major roads in the city.
"A number of key buildings have also been affected such as schools, community centres and leisure centres. We are trying to respond as best as we can but can only stress that these are very difficult circumstances and we are still in the middle of a severe incident.
"We estimate that several hundred staff have responded - many of them through the night, operating specialist equipment, including clearing away water, moving debris and silt off the roads. Staff from adult abd children services are also out as well as structural engineers.
"The clean up operation will carry on through the night and over the next few days."
Page last updated: 28 June, 2012
