HUNDREDS of Royal Navy personnel from Hampshire have this afternoon been drafted in to help with the massive flood relief operation.

A total of 200 staff from the Gosport area have been drafted in to assist the civilian authorities in the battle against the flood conditions in the South of England.

Around 100 have come from the Maritime Warfare School at HMS Collingwood and they will join a further 100 Air and Marine Engineers from HMS Sultan in what is now a centralised sand bag filling operation taking place at Chieveley Highways Depot in West Berkshire.

They currently have some 5,000 sand bags to fill, which they are doing so at a rate of 1,000 an hour, with another 15,000 expected.