A RESIDENT has told how he battled to stop his home being flooded through the front door - only for floodwaters to pour in through the brickwork instead.

Louis Woolfson was one of dozens of people in Huntington Road whose homes were inundated when the River Foss burst its banks, following the Environment Agency's decision to open a flood barrier at the river's confluence with the River Ouse on Boxing Day.

He said that at about 8pm on Boxing Day evening, he tried to create a 2ft seal on his front door as floodwaters rose. "At ten o clock, we actually felt water under our feet and that rose quite dramatically," he said.

"The water was actually coming in through the walls. When we got out, it was about six or eight inches (deep)"

He said the water was getting deeper outside in the street and staying in the building any longer could have left him trapped inside, and so he waded out to dry land. The floodwaters eventually reached about 80 cms up the interior walls, 'devastating' the kitchen, where there was a cooker, a washer and various high quality units.

He said the bathroom was also devastated, and he thought the cost of repairing the damage would come to tens of thousands of pounds, although he was not yet certain whether certain works, such as re-plastering the walls, would be needed.

He thanked volunteers from Copmanthorpe Scouts, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Heworth Methodist Church and the local community, who have been assisting him and other flood victims in the Huntington Road area, providing hot food and drinks from a catering van.

They have also been distributing foods and other supplies donated by people from across York and as far away as Norfolk, and helping to clear up flooded properties.

The hot food van was manned yesterday by Kirsty and Chris Edge and their nine-year-old son Parish, from Tang Hall and Karen Lee of Wigginton, who said they wanted to help out after seeing what had happened in Huntington Road.

Sandra Kimberling, of the Mormon church, said it had been inundated by donations from across the York community, including a range of retailers, which it had been helping to distribute.