MOTORISTS suffered massive delays and diversions after the A19 into York was blocked by flooding – and council chiefs do not know when the long-term problem will be fixed.

A low-lying stretch of the road at Fulford was closed in the early hours of yesterday after the River Ouse rose to almost 4.5 metres above normal summer levels, following the heavy weekend rain in the Pennines.

Drivers from Selby and the A64 were diverted to the A1079 to enter the city, but that led to huge traffic jams building up in the morning rush hour on the A64 from the A1079 Grimston roundabout to Copmanthorpe.

Motorists also reported extra delays on the York Outer Ring Road as far away as the A59 junction, as drivers sought other ways to enter the city.

Even so, tourist chiefs stressed that York remained “open for business” despite the localised traffic problems.

The A19 was also blocked in the evening rush hour, although it looked set to re-open by today as river levels slowly receded, having fallen to 4.3 metres above normal by late afternoon yesterday.

The level of the A19 is set to be raised as part of the scheme by Persimmon to build an access road into the Germany Beck site, where it wants to build 720 homes.

But the project has been significantly delayed, and City of York Council said yesterday it did not have any firm date for when the developer proposed to start the scheme.

“The scheme to raise the level of the A19 is developer led and we are in discussions with them,” said a spokeswoman.

A Persimmon spokeswoman was unable to comment on when the project would start.

Asked why the council did not warn motorists on Monday evening that the A19 was likely to flood yesterday, the authority’s spokeswoman said this would have been “speculative”, and could have led to drivers taking an unnecessary diversion had the river not risen as high as had been predicted by the Environment Agency.

As the floodwaters went downstream yesterday, villages in the Selby area such as Cawood, Stillingfleet and Kelfield were badly affected.

The bridge at Cawood closed at around 7pm on Monday to allow the flood gate to be raised, meaning a long diversion for anyone wanting to travel to York.

At its peak the Ouse at Cawood was 7.9m above normal summer levels.

By yesterday evening it was at 7.5m, but it was not known when it would recede enough for the flood gate to be lowered.

Firefighters were called to assist with pumping out Lock House, a licensed café at Linton Lock near Linton-on-Ouse, after the premises suffered from flooding on Monday night.


Flooding at Acaster Malbis

Abandon ship! Michael Brown takes a more light-hearted view of the latest flood to hit his home.

Michael has lived at River View cottage, Acaster Malbis, for 50 years and was under several inches of water again.

He is so used to the floods that his kitchen units are on wheels and his favourite local, The Ship, is under several feet of water in parts.

The landlady had kept the pub open until yesterday, but the latest water levels finally forced the pub to close again.

Useful contacts

For sand bags and help cleaning up:

• City of York Council – 01904 551550.

• North Yorkshire County Council – 01609 780780.

• North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service – 01609 780150.

If you live in a flood-risk area you can get warnings sent direct to you by phone, text message or email.

For details, phone the Environment Agency’s Floodline on 0845 988 1188.