FLOODING chaos hit the York area today after 24 hours of heavy rain.

Firefighters pumped out several properties, including a doctor's surgery car park, several roads were blocked and trains on the East Coast Main Line were delayed.

At Norton, in Ryedale, a flood warning was issued by the Environment Agency - less than a fortnight after it declared that a £6.3 million flood defence scheme for Norton, Malton and Old Malton was watertight.

Bemused householders in Welham Road, Norton, were warned to move items upstairs because flooding was expected.

"It's very strange," said resident, Kath Youngson, whose home was wrecked by flooding in both 1999 and 2000.

"Either we are safe from flooding or we aren't. To be quite honest, we laughed. We don't take any notice of flood warnings. We can tell when it's going to flood.

"But I'm worried that others will panic and move things upstairs unnecessarily."

Another resident, Howard Keal, said there were rumours that pumps installed by Ryedale District Council to pump water out of Millbeck were not strong enough to meet the task.

"What we need now is the district council to assure us that the pumps are indeed adequate to cope with the flow of water in flood conditions."

But when the Evening Press tried to contact the council, it was told that staff were still on their Christmas and New Year holiday, and no one would be available for comment until Thursday.

An agency spokesman said the warning had been issued as a precautionary measure, because the flood defences had only recently been completed.

He said the levels at which warnings were issued would be adjusted shortly to take account of the new defences.

Several properties were hit by flooding last night. Firefighters were called to pump out a doctor's surgery car park in High Street, South Milford, Red House at Moor Lane, Murton, and also a number of residential properties at Northallerton.

At Elvington, the B1228 along High Street was closed to traffic after Elvington Beck flooded the road. City of York Council advised motorists to avoid the area if possible or take a signed diversion.

The road from Stockton-on-the-Forest to York was also flooded by several inches of standing water, although motorists were still managing to get through. "It was pretty bad, the worst I have ever known it," said one villager.

Motorists also hit problems on the A170 between Helmsley and Sutton Bank. Police said the road was closed last night because of a foot of standing water across the road and had not yet reopened.

In York, flood warnings were issued for the Ouse at Clifton, Fulford and Naburn, although the agency only expected riverside paths rather than properties to be affected.

Across England and Wales, almost 90 flood warnings were in place.

An agency spokesman said that due to heavy rain over the past few days, some areas of the country are waterlogged and the agency would be monitoring the situation closely.

Updated: 12:57 Monday, December 30, 2002