This striking photograph of the Ouse waters inundating King’s Staith in York was so eye-catching it grabbed the attention of NASA.
Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Maryland, USA, were making a video about storm events across the world in 2015, and needed a picture to illustrate the UK’s bad weather.
They saw Allan’s photo on Flickr and got in touch.
“I was delighted to be asked and thought it incredible that my shot was chosen to illustrate the December storms in the UK,” Allan said.
“It was just a record shot from the bridge, as part of my attempts to carry a camera as much of the time as possible.”
‘Best ever accolade’
Allan’s image comes around 1.30 in the December section of the NASA video
The picture was taken on December 1, long before the floods took a dramatic turn for the worse on Boxing Day.
Allan did take more pictures of the floodwaters in the subsequent weeks.
He said:
A former president of York Photographic Society, Allan “just likes taking pictures”.
He once won a holiday to Jamaica with one of his photographs, and had pictures exhibited at the Joe Cornish gallery in Northallerton when he was a finalist in a travel photography competition.
And his brilliant Flickr feed has amassed more than 4.7 million views.
Allan said: