News and entertainment worth sharing – York and North Yorkshire

Electronic flood warning signs to be installed by the river in York

The River Ouse bursts its banks after Storm Ciara. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Electronic flood signs are set to be installed along the River Ouse – to warn people about the risk of the river flooding.

City of York Council could put £200,000 towards renewing York’s flood signs and monitoring rainfall in next year’s budget.

Under the plans – the authority could purchase technology to track, respond to and investigate heavy rain. A report says this could be a rain gauge network or a radar based web browser system.

And that this could help teams prioritise where and when to respond to flooding.

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Improvements needed

A lifebuoy engulfed by Ouse floodwater in York. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

The report says: “The 2015 independent York Flood Inquiry and the section 19 investigation for the August 2018 surface water incident emphasised the need for improving how the council investigates flooding incidents, responds to and warns and informs the public about flooding.”

It adds that the signs would create “a more visually stimulating network of flood signs to warn the risk of river flooding to residents and road users within the city centre and villages”.


And that it would mean staff spend less time putting out signs, reducing the likelihood of injuries.

The scheme would also use real time rainfall flood forecasting to understand surface water impacts to residents, businesses, and transport and cycle routes, according to the report.