Thursday, 21 January, 2021
Updates as Storm Christoph causes flooding in York and North Yorkshire. Got info? Let us know on Twitter, or at [email protected]
All the latest flood warnings are here
Firefighters have rescued a man who had driven into floodwaters at Buttercrambe.
He had sat in his van for more than five hours before calling for assistance.
Meanwhile Ryedale District Council sent out this message: “Please respect road closures and do NOT try to go through flood waters tonight.
“Our colleagues at North Yorkshire Fire have told us of people trying to cycle, drive and walk through flooding in Norton and Malton earlier today. Don’t put yourself in danger and stay out of flood water.”
This from Chloe, the Local Democracy Report for York.
The latest update from the Environment Agency at 5.15pm puts the River Ouse in York city centre at 4.55m.
It is forecasting the river will peak at 4.73m at 5.45am tomorrow (Friday, 22 January). That’s well above the level where some flooding in properties is possible.
But it is also well short of the 5.2m-5.4m which would cause serious problems.
Meanwhile, an update of the River Foss issued at 5.15pm shows the latest level at 2.73m.
If you’re thinking of going for your daily exercise on Rawcliffe Ings, please don’t. That’s the message from York Rescue Boat this evening.
It comes as questions are asked about why the sluice gate there hasn’t been opened.
David Sempers contacted the York Press with this observation: “It just looks like a big, long waterfall.
“There’s a metal sluice gate at the Skelton end of Clifton Ings. Normally they open that to let water into the Ings, then when the Ings are full they close it. When the river level goes down again there’s another gate at the Clifton Bridge end. They open this to let the water out.
“If they aren’t opening the gate to let water into the Ings it means there will be more water downstream. I just can’t understand why they haven’t done it.”
This is the floodwater which is now across Huntington Road.
It’s under the bridge close to Ramsay Close.
Cars can get through at the moment with care. The Foss is thought to be at or near its peak, so it’s hoped that the conditions won’t deteriorate further.
Here’s an update from Cawood in the Selby district, from Alex Brown.
Here’s an update from York councillor Darryl Smalley.
“A council engineer has been out to Clifton/Rawcliffe Ings. They have reported that whilst the water is overtopping, it is not causing much damage to the embankment.
“They will continue to monitor it. The gate was opened this morning to maximise the use of the Ings storage area.
“If the embankment is being damaged due to overtopping, it will not increase flood risk to any properties. It has been damaged in the past and the council will go in after the levels reduce to carry out repair work.”
River Ouse levels are expected to rise quickly to about 4.7m tonight, he said.
As posted earlier, a Facebook Live Q&A on the floods is taking place at 5pm tonight. The panel will be discussing flooding preparations, what to do when river levels rise and how to stay safe.
There’s more on www.york.gov.uk/floods.
Reader Louise Sharp, who sent the picture above of the Ouse overtopping Rawcliffe flood bank, said: “Rawcliffe residents have been assured that should the bank give way properties are not at risk.”
Malton Town Council’s Martin Dales sends us this update: “Last night there was rapid increase in flooding in Old Malton.
“There were and still are seven pumps working hard to move water over the flood defences into the River Derwent.
“A multi-agency response including Malton’s North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue ensured pumps were in place and properties threatened sandbagged with the seventh one arriving, fitted and working by 2.30am today.
“Grateful thanks to the 20+ front-line staff involved as well as all those working in support in the background.
“The situation today is far better now and homes and businesses are not under threat. However, with County Bridge currently closed – the River Derwent is less than foot short of the level in pre-flood defences 1999 flood – a lot of traffic is being displaced onto the B1257 through Old Malton so do please drive carefully as work remains in progress.”
This from North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service’s Bob Hoskins:
The drains caused flooding in Bridge Street in Tadcaster last night.
The fire service arrived with pumps to protect properties that were at risk of flooding
Tadcaster Community Action Group published these pictures on Facebook.
These photos from Daniel James show fields behind St Peter’s School in York completely flooded.
Football and rugby pitches are inundated. But the water’s not going anywhere else.
Daniel said: “The flood bank here was strengthened in the autumn so all looks OK at the moment.”
We’ve now posted a fuller version of the last update, with the latest news for York. It includes Cllr Paula Widdowson praising the council teams efforts:
We know how to work a flood now. We know what to put in place. Unfortunately, we’re very well practised at it. And it’s working like clockwork, they have done a fantastic job.
We have just come out of a media briefing organised by City of York Council on the latest position on the floods.
We’ll post a full story shortly, but here are some of the main points.
River Foss
River Ouse
Hotels are on standby to take people impacted by the Foss flooding – but that evacuation plan is unlikely to be needed.
There was great praise for the City of York Council teams who have done all the defence work in Covid secure bubbles.