High river levels have forced a popular York park to shut its gates just four days after reopening following a three month closure due to flooding.

Rowntree Park will close tomorrow (Saturday, March 16) and possible Sunday too, the group managing the park said.

The South Bank park - which reopened on Tuesday (March 12) - has inbuilt systems to deal with water and flooding.

But Friends of Rowntree Park said the systems are “not working as they should” which is “causing issues”.

The group added that City of York Council is “looking into” the problem.

York Press: Flooding in Tower Gardens, York, this morning (Friday, March 15)Flooding in Tower Gardens, York, this morning (Friday, March 15) (Image: Newsquest)

At 5.30pm the Ouse was at 2.77m and falling at the Viking Recorder – 1.9m is the top of the river’s normal range.

The Environment Agency expects the river to rise again from 11pm, peaking at 2.95m tomorrow morning.

The Ouse is expected to fall from 8am tomorrow and be within its normal range by 7pm tomorrow, the agency said.

Why was Rowntree Park closed for three months?

Friends of Rowntree Park previously said high levels on the nearby River Ouse brought problems for the park from mid-December.

They said the council manually pumped water out of the park but once the flood water was cleared there was still “a lot of tidying and repairs to do”.

James Gilchrist, director of transport, environment and planning at City of York Council, previously said the park’s location, coupled with it being built on land that used to be a water way, meant high river levels prevent drainage.

He added that the water table in the park is also affected when the Ouse rises.

"There are systems in place across the park to help manage these conditions, but it’s unavoidable that ground water levels will rise when the river is high, and especially now when this is combined with the high levels of rainfall in York over the last three months,” he said.

"When flooding is ongoing it’s not safe for the park to remain open to the public, but even once the water subsides there is still a significant amount of work that needs to be done to clean up and get the park ready for visitors.

"This winter we’ve seen multiple occasions when river levels have been high, on two occasions the river has ‘over topped’ the park wall, and even when levels have dropped, it can take considerable time for the parks pumped drainage system to reduce water levels."