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York flooding – Live updates

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We’ll keep you up-to-date on the river levels after Storm Dennis in York and North Yorkshire.

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• Key updates

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Video: The river’s high but the city centre is fine

Minster FM news editor David Dunning is out and about in York city centre this afternoon.

His video shows that the River Ouse is certainly high but contained. The rest of the city is fine, if a little wet and blustery.

Council workers are shoring up York’s defences

York council workers shoring up York's defences. Photograph: Gwen Swinburn on Twitter

Here are some of the City of York Council frontline team working to make sure York’s defences are ready for Storm Dennis.

The pictures come from Gwen Swinburn on Twitter.

They show Lee, Mark and Dave working on Tower Street on Saturday lunchtime.

Photograph: Gwen Swinburn on Twitter

MP tells national radio ‘York still doesn’t have the flood defences it needs’

York MP takes to the national airways to berate city flood defences

York Central MP Rachael Maskell was on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning talking about the city’s flood defences, four years after the Boxing Day floods.

She told the programme:

  • Four years on, we still don’t have the defences our city needs. That’s unacceptable.

    We haven’t seen the government putting the upper catchment management in place, slowing the flow of the river.

    I have already challenged the government last week after Storm Ciara about their failure to address those areas which flood.

Met Office issues new yellow warning for wind affecting York

The Met Office weather warnings map issued 15 February

The Met Office issued an updated weather alert at 10.19am which affects York.

The update is to the existing yellow weather warning for wind in the area, running from 10am on Sunday and noon on Monday.

It is in addition to the amber warning for rain in our area.

The update reads:

Storm Dennis will bring some very strong winds and transport disruption during Sunday and into Monday morning.

What to expect

  • Some delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport are likely
  • Probably some bus and train services affected, with some journeys taking longer
  • Delays for high-sided vehicles on exposed routes and bridges likely
  • Some short term loss of power and other services is possible
  • It’s likely that some coastal routes, sea fronts and coastal communities affected by spray and/or large waves

Rail services affected

Here’s the latest from the rail companies in our area:

LNER
Speed restrictions will be in place across the network on both days. As a result, extended journey times, short-notice delays and cancellations are expected.

LNER expect services to be extremely busy throughout the weekend, so they are encouraging customers with LNER tickets dated for travel on Saturday 15th February or Sunday 16th February, to defer travel to Monday 17th February where possible. Please travel as close to the original time as stated on your ticket.

Details of cancelled services can be found here.

Grand Central
A normal service is expected to run this weekend, however some trains may experience delays due to the forecast weather conditions.

Northern
Disruption is expected across much of the Northern rail network this weekend as Storm Dennis is set to arrive on Saturday afternoon. Northern customers are asked to check before travelling and to allow extra time for journeys this weekend. From 17:00 today until 10:00 tomorrow the line between Hebden Bridge and Rochdale will be closed. Customers are advised NOT TO TRAVEL on this route. More here.

TransPennine Express
If you are planning to use the rail network this weekend, we strongly advise that all customers check the status of your service before travelling and be prepared for delays. Full details here.

Current flood warnings and alerts

The two flood warnings in place on the morning of 15 February. Image: Flood Warning Information Service

There are currently two flood warnings and four flood alerts around York.

Flood warnings (flooding is expected – be prepared):

  • River Ouse at Naburn Lock (7.44am): “Further rain associated with Storm Dennis is forecast on Saturday and Sunday 16.2.20 which will cause levels to rise again. Access roads into Naburn are affected. We are closely monitoring the situation and our Area Incident Room is open. Please avoid using low lying footpaths near local watercourses and plan driving routes to avoid low lying roads near rivers, which may be flooded.”
  • River Ouse at York – riverside properties (7.48am): “Floodgates are closed in York and the Foss Barrier is operational. We are closely monitoring the situation and our Area Incident Room is open. Please avoid using low lying footpaths near local watercourses and plan driving routes to avoid low lying roads near rivers, which may be flooded.”

Flood alerts (flooding is possible – be prepared):

York City game is OFF

Fans on match day at Bootham Crescent. Photograph: YorkMix

Today’s game at Bootham Crescent has been called off.

York City FC announced on social media this morning that the 3pm fixture with Hereford FC was being postponed due to Storm Dennis.

The decision was taken after the club reviewed league guidance and was taken with “travelling supporters’ and players’ safety in mind”.

It does mean that Bootham Crescent is likely to host one more ‘final’ game under the floodlights.

Here’s some reaction:

The rain is here and atmosphere pressure is dropping

Here we go again…

Pressure is dropping fast and the rain is coming down – Storm Dennis is in town.

We’ll keep updating this blog with news from in and around York.

Here are some weather updates to start us off…