STAY out of the water – that’s the advice from North Yorkshire firefighters to the public after emergency crews spent the weekend rescuing people from the River Ouse and flooded cars.

On this occasion, teams from two fire stations and the York fire service boat were able to save a 30-year-old woman and a man who tried to help her when she was dragged along the swollen River Ouse in the centre of the city.

Station Officer Lee Smith, who headed the rescue, warned the public that not everyone who went in to the river would come out alive.

He said: “In York we have had quite a few tragic events. Don’t enter the water at all. People need to be aware of how dangerous it is.”

As the Met Office forecast yet more rain for the coming days, he outlined the dangers in any river or area of water.

They included the temperature of the water, currents pulling people along, unseen and unexpected changes in water depth, and particularly when a river is swollen by rain, getting caught by driftwood and other items floating below the water surface.

Gratings may have been dislodged from openings in the riverbed and where floodwaters cover normally dry land, they may conceal potholes and other dangers.

He particularly appealed to drivers to stay out of standing water or floods on roads. Last weekend, ten people had to be rescued from four cars that got trapped by heavy rain on the A684 in Wensleydale.

“Don’t drive through the water at all,” he said.

“It doesn’t need a great depth of water before the engine will give out and those inside will need some sort of rescue.

“It may mean additional mileage and time taken, but we strongly recommend drivers don’t drive through water.”

“Firefighters will always turn out for emergencies, but while they are dealing with emergencies that can be avoided, such as cars stalling in flooded road dips, they cannot deal with burning houses or similar emergencies.”

Forecasters say June is on target to be the wettest since 1860.

So far this month, 150mm of rain has fallen across England and Wales, when the average is 65mm.

MeteoGroup, the Press Association’s weather service, said that only another 8mm more of rain is needed to beat the current record of 157mm and, with thunderstorms due later this week, it is likely to happen.

The last time there was such a deluge was when Queen Victoria was on the throne, although four years ago the total was 145mm.

The latest unwanted record comes after the dampest April across England and Wales since reliable rainfall records began in 1766.

The record-breaking is no comfort to many parts of the country that have suffered floods, despite May being fairly normal in rainfall terms as it was close to the 30-year average.

MeteoGroup’s forecast manager, Michael Dukes, said that the chances of just one month beating the rainfall record was about one in 250.

To add to the misery, it is also likely to be the coldest June since 1991 with an estimated Central England Temperature (CET) of just 13.3C, when the average CET for the time of year is 14.5C.

“With just a few days of June to go, MeteoGroup’s data show that we are just a few millimetres short of breaking the June record,” Mr Dukes said.

“Substantial thundery rain is in MeteoGroup’s forecast for Thursday, in response to the temperature daring to surge into the high 20s in the South East.

“Cooler weather will follow over the weekend with showers, so it seems almost inevitable that June 2012 will enter the record books for all the wrong reasons.”