A HOUSEHOLDER faced a frustrating battle to prevent his home near York being flooded when drains overflowed during heavy rainfall.

Paul Nacey said the road and pavements in Whistler Close, Copmanthorpe, ended up under 11 inches of floodwater, and almost the entire driveway leading up to his house was covered yesterday.

He said water was also bubbling up in his toilet, and he feared the floodwaters would enter his home unless action was swiftly taken to restart a local pumping station, which had stopped working, possibly during a thunderstorm.

But as he repeatedly tried to call officials for help, both City of York Council and Yorkshire Water kept telling Mr Nacey the other authority was responsible for the problem. He said it was the second time in two years the road had been flooded.

He claimed the authorities had only acted in the afternoon after he said he was going to call The Press.

City of York Council said it had been asked to solve the problem as a private contractor for Tees Valley Housing Association, which owns the sewers at Whistler Close.

A spokeswoman said a tanker had been sent to Whistler Close to identify the problem and depending on what they found, the crew would try to get the pumping station started.

Mr Nacey said yesterday teatime that the station had been restarted just in time and the floodwaters were receding.

Yorkshire Water said it sympathised with Mr Nacey’s situation and understood that it must be frustrating when the responsibility for drains was not clear.

“On this occasion, a number of the sewers and a pumping station in and around Whistler Close are unadopted by Yorkshire Water, which means they are the responsibility of the property developers or housing development companies,” said a spokeswoman.

“When new housing developments are created, developers must build sewers and pumping stations to meet strict Yorkshire Water guidelines. Once we are satisfied that they meet these guidelines, and if the company wants us to, we will adopt and take responsibility for them.”

Elsewhere in York, the summer holiday arrived a day early for pupils at Rawcliffe Infants School, which had to shut because of flooding.

Organisers of the Clifton Backies Summer Fair, which had been due to take place today, had to cancel the event, after wet weather left the ground and paths waterlogged.

North Yorkshire Fire And Rescue Service had a busy day yesterday, attending 19 flooding incidents across the county.

In Low Moor Road, in Cliffe, near Selby, the fire brigade pumped water away from flats and homes after a spell of heavy, persistent rain fell across the area. Fire crews were also called to a property in Abbots Road, in Selby, after the building was left surrounded by water.

Escrick Primary School was also hit, with the road outside flooded.

Chelo Brooks, head teacher at the school, said the water had come from a drain in Carr Lane and because it contained sewage it had created a really bad smell.