FLOOD defences are being strengthened in the York area as new figures reveal more than 18,000 properties are now considered to be at risk.

The Environment Agency said the figure equated to 17.6 per cent of all properties in the City of York Council area, and placed York in 28th position out of more than 350 local authorities nationwide.

It said 3,634 properties were at “significant” risk, meaning there was at least a 1.3 per cent chance of any property flooding in any one year.

Elsewhere, 11,541 properties were at risk in the Selby district, with 1,010 at significant risk, and there were 4,351 properties at risk in Ryedale, with 1,274 at significant risk.

In Hambleton, there were 4,962 properties at risk, with 858 at significant risk, and there are 54,061 properties at risk in the East Riding of Yorkshire area, with 7,513 at significant risk. The district was placed in 5th position in the UK.

An agency spokeswoman said the figures took account of natural and man-made defences, which in many cases had downgraded the risk for properties from significant to moderate or low.

She said that staff had been repairing flood banks across York to make sure they were ready for the next downpour.

“The Operations Delivery team has been working on five kilometres of flood bank at Clifton Ings and two kilometres of flood bank at Middlethorpe Ings close to York Crematorium,” she said.

“They have been restoring the original height and profile of the flood banks after bad weather and flooding caused erosion along some stretches.

“The Ings in York play a vital role in storing water from the River Ouse, and the banks are in place to make sure they don’t fill too quickly.”

She said officers had also recently finished repairing 3.1 kilometres of flood bank at Bolton Ings, at Bolton Percy, near Tadcaster.

“Parts of the bank were washed away by flood water and officers have rebuilt it to the original height and shape.”

Environment Agency officers in York have also been using state-of-the-art surveying technology called Lidar to identify potential weaknesses in the flood banks. The spokeswoman said data was gathered by using a plane to emit lasers which bounce off the ground and enable a national surveying team to calculate the lie of the land, and draw up maps.

“They then send the maps to the officers in York who identify the flood banks and compare this Lidar data with the heights that the embankments should be.”

Shadow Environment Minister Anne McIntosh, who is Vale of York MP and prospective candidate for Malton and Thirsk, said she was alarmed by the new statistics. “There is a real need to maintain power and water supplies and protect essential services during a flood emergency,” she said.

Howard Keal, Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Malton and Thirsk, said the figures underlined the sheer scale of the problem and the massive under funding to deal with it, and said the Government needed to provide more resources.


Driven out twice...

WHEN the River Derwent burst its banks in Norton in 1999 and again in 2000, Ryedale councillor Howard Keal’s home in St Nicholas Street, Norton, was severely flooded.

Coun Keal said the first time the house flooded, the entire ground floor was submerged under about three feet of water. The second time was even worse, he said, with at least four feet of water covering all the ground floor.

He said: “It’s almost impossible to imagine just how massive the devastation of a flood is for anyone who hasn’t actually been through it.”

Speaking about the aftermath of the first flood, he said: “The plaster had to be replaced to shoulder height on all the walls downstairs. The property had to be re-wired, all the floors had to be ripped out and replaced and the whole kitchen and everything in it and every appliance was destroyed.

“Outside, everything was covered in a mixture of grey silt, oil and sewage.

“Most of us who were flooded had to find somewhere else to live while the properties were put back in order, which the first time for us took nine months and the second time took around eight.” In 2002, £9.5 million worth of flood defences – mainly comprising flood walls – were completed in Norton, Malton and Old Malton.

“They’ve really proved their worth since,” Coun Keal said.