A FLOOD resilience training exercise has been staged in a North Yorkshire village while maintenance work was being carried out on a mechanical flood defence gate.
The Environment Agency said its staff checked the gate and its mechanisms at Cawood Bridge on the River Ouse were in working order.
It said staff, agency contractors and partners Selby District Council and North Yorkshire County Council also took part in the training exercise.
Field team leader Gavin Tabiner said: “The testing and training exercise involved operating the gate several times so that everyone in attendance became familiar with the procedure in advance of an actual deployment in a flood incident.”
An agency spokesman said the gate formed part of the defences at Cawood and wound up from the road at the edge of the bridge to fill in a gap in the flood walls along the top on the riverbank.
"The bridge was closed to traffic while the barrier and its mechanisms were checked and given a service, he added.
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