A York resident has questioned York council’s project management after workers laboured to clean-up the riverside – shortly before it flooded again.
The resident, who didn’t want to be identified, watched a large crew descend on King’s Staith yesterday morning.
The workers toiled for more than three hours brushing mud from the cobbles, only for the rising waters to undo their efforts in minutes.
Our witness said the worst thing was that this was all predictable – as the river levels were predicted to flood the bank the same afternoon.
“The Viking Recorder gave a clear prediction that the Ouse was due to rise by more than a metre at the point of their arrival,” the resident told YorkMix.
“This cleaning event took eight men and five vehicles with zero benefit. What a pointless exercise.
“It was quite obvious the workers knew they were wasting their time. One worker lifted the signage out of the truck, set them out, took a photo and immediately put them back on his truck!”
A City of York Council spokesperson said that the warping – the removal of silt from riverside paths – was justified.
“River levels dropped over the weekend to levels where we would normally be able to access riverside areas for warping/desilting.
“We were fully aware of the online forecast for the River Ouse levels to raise again to a height that would further inundate some riverside areas, but this was marginal and with the actual rainfall and snowmelt levels unknown at that time there could well have been some variance between the forecasted and actual levels.
“Normally we would not commence warping until any forecasted additional flood peaks have passed.
“But given the freezing temperatures forecasted for numerous days later in the week we agreed to address a few key areas as much as possible ahead of the next flood peak.
“This was not intended to be a full warping and desilting process due to the river forecasts but it will reduce the amount of silts that remain in these areas later in the week.”