NORTH Yorkshire residents today began a massive clean-up after storms lashed the county overnight.

During a night in which a month's worth of rain fell in just six hours, communities had to rally round to pump out homes and public buildings.

Among the worst-hit areas was Goathland, near Whitby, the setting for TV's Heartbeat.

Villagers spent much of today mopping up after rising waters flooded properties and blocked the main road through the village.

Volunteer firefighters were called out to the village throughout the night and early this morning.

About six properties were hit by flooding, and the main road was under one to two metres of water at about 10pm.

Engineers from Northern Electric had to be called after flood waters spread to a sub station in the village.

The Goathland Hotel was flooded, and fire crews were needed to pump water from other properties.

Two people in a car had to be pulled free by firefighters after the vehicle got stuck in a ford at Darnholme Lane, Goathland, at about 3am.

Moments later, four elderly people in a car had to be rescued by firefighters from flood waters in the village's main street.

A production team from Yorkshire Television's Heartbeat programme was filming in the area last night but was unaffected by the floods, said a spokeswoman.

At Risplith, near Ripon, water running off surrounding fields badly flooded a farmhouse and farm buildings in the early hours.

Last night and today, the Environment Agency issued a string of alerts warning residents to be on their guard.

And new "flood warnings" - where homes, businesses and main roads are expected to be flooded - are in force at Pickering Beck, in Pickering, on the Ure at Bishop Monkton, and on the Swale at Richmond. A lesser alert, a flood watch, is in place on the Derwent, which runs through Malton and Norton.

A flood watch in place on the Derwent since Monday night had been withdrawn earlier yesterday before being restored later.

Pickering and its surrounding villages were on full alert for much of today, with Pickering Beck rising to its highest level of the day at 10am.

Pickering residents praised the new emergency precautions.

Stuart Bennett, who lives at Beck Isle Cottage in Pickering, got a telephone warning at 5.15am today and had been sitting up since then keeping a watchful eye on the beck.

He said: "I've got 28 sandbags and tarpaulins, which were given to me by the Environment Agency last time so we are all poised to put them out."

He praised the Environment Agency telephoning warning system, as did Peter Burnett, owner of Bridge House Guest House across the beck.

Mr Burnett, who moved there in 1997, has experienced flood water entering his house. He said the beck would have to rise by another four feet before his house was flooded.

He said: "We had a young lady come round about 9 o'clock last night from the Environment Agency to tell us the river was coming up and we got frightened to death when the warning came by phone at 5 o'clock in the morning."

Mr Burnett said the Environment Agency needed to tackle the problem of silt building up further down near the trout fishing lake.

He said: "There's a 20 foot wide river trying to flow through a six foot wide channel, it really needs to be dug out."

Agency spokesman Justin Warr said: "River levels across the county rose sharply, up to 55 millimetres in the last 12 hours. Average rainfall for the whole of September is around 65 millimetres.

It's good to hear that the warning system is working. This is the first time it's been put to the test."

The forecast for tomorrow is for dryer and brighter weather, with another front bringing scattered showers.

Residents can find out about the risk of flooding in their area by calling the Environment Agency Floodline on 0845 9881188.