York floods - rescue memories of York's 1982 flood

Leslie, now 68, was a 25-year-old soldier in the Royal Engineers back in January 1982. He was on Christmas leave at home in Flaxton when he got a call from his camp at Ripon calling him in to help flood relief efforts in York.

He was to spend the next four days and nights in the freezing cold and wet, rescuing people from their flooded homes and bringing in vital supplies to cut-off communities.

He has served all over the world during his 25-year military career, but has never forgotten those bleak days in York at the start of 1982 when York witnessed some of its worse flooding in living memory.

He takes up the story:

"There had been a foot of snow at Christmas - then a massive thaw afterwards.

I was stationed at Ripon in the 38 Engineer Regiment but was on Christmas leave at home in Flaxton. I was about to go out when I got a call. It was the camp in Ripon saying I was required for flood relief in York.

I made my way to Imphal Barracks in York to meet the others from my regiment who had picked up two aluminium assault boats from our supply stores at Hessay. They were in a four-tonne truck and we made our way to Marygate.

It was the start of January and at that point, Huntington Road, Foss Islands Road and Leeman Road were still passable.

Some of Leslie's comrades from 38 Engineers at work during the relief effort for the 1982 York floods

It was a time before the Foss Barrier and basically what ever went down the Ouse came back up the Foss and flooded the city.

We mostly operated around Marygate and Bootham Terrace and even up to Clifton Green. We helped get people out of their homes and delivered milk and bread to those who didn't want to leave.

We worked for three or four days around the clock - living out of the back of the four-tonne truck!

Some of the businesses and residents of Marygate such as the hotel and the Post Office Club took us in and let us get dry and gave us cups of tea.

I remember helping the landlord of the Bay Horse move his stock then sitting round the bar having a tot of rum.

They would lend us towels to get dry - and even some dry socks - but then you were putting on wet gear again.

When I took my boots off my feet were like white currants.

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MORE PHOTOS OF 1982 FLOODS:

* Going nowhere: how this devastating flood brought York to a standstill

* York floods: the flood that changed the city forever

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We couldn't use motors in the boat because of what was under the water - bollards and such like - so we had to paddle.

It was so cold and draining.

Flooding in Sycamore Place in 1982

There was a funny part when a reporter from the News at Ten came out with us, but fell out of the boat and into the water.

The floods were covered by the national news and I was even on the front page of one national newspaper - for rescuing a cat!"

The river levels of January 1982 peaked at 16ft 7in and the flood brought York to a standstill.

Police called a curfew at 3pm, by which time the city centre was to be evacuated.

Almost all routes in and out of the city were blocked. Today we are sharing more archive photos from The Press showing the extent of the flooding across the city, with areas such as Huntington Road, Foss Islands and Clementhorpe all under water.

Flooding was widespread in January 1982 - as this photo shows from Tower Street with Clifford's Tower reflected in the water

Following this flood, work began on building the Foss Barrier which did a good job of keeping the city centre dry until its catastrophic failure in 2015 which caused devastating flooding once again in York.

In 2000, York's river levels reached record levels when the Ouse peaked at 17f 10in above normal, again causing misery for households and businesses across the city and surrounding communities.

What are your memories of the 1982 floods? Share them with us in our Facebook group, Why We Love York - Memories.