NINE months have passed since we put our waders away, but North Yorkshire still cannot escape flooding.

Tonight we report how torrential rain brought flash floods to Scarborough, all but washing away hopes of the resort enjoying a bumper summer.

Meanwhile, North Yorkshire County Council bosses are fuming at an apparent southern bias in flood-repair funding.

More than two-thirds of the money put aside to rebuild damaged roads and bridges is going to the South-East: not the first example of Whitehall favouring the prosperous Home Counties.

These two stories are an indication of the problems that lie ahead. Climate change experts suggest flooding is set to increase significantly, and that will mean more and bigger bills of the sort now facing the county council.

Before we can tackle the long-term obstacles, however, we have more immediate hurdles to overcome.

The dreadful weather that brought about the Scarborough floods is the latest disaster to beset North Yorkshire's biggest industry, tourism.

Yesterday we printed two pictures, taken a week apart in the resort's North Bay. One of the beach packed with visitors sweltering in Mediterranean-style sunshine. In the other, just two hardy souls ventured out in the cold and rain.

As the weather degenerated further yesterday, many more tourists will have been driven away. That is a great pity. Until now, Scarborough was one of the few hotspots of North Yorkshire tourism, its sands being free of foot and mouth.

Mercifully, York's tourist sector is buoyant: on Saturday we reported hotel occupancy figures that suggested the city is climbing out of the slump caused by last November's floods.

Elsewhere, the story is bleak. In the blighted countryside, hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and visitor attractions are reporting takings down by 90 per cent. Last week, regional development agency Yorkshire Forward announced a welcome £4 million package to revive the rural economy. But many millions more will be needed if our tourist industry is to recover from this bedevilled summer.

Updated: 10:18 Wednesday, August 08, 2001