An "oversight" by the Environment Agency has left York's first line of flood defences breached and a farmer's fields under water.

Flooding returned to North Yorkshire with Linton Ings the first victim of a swollen Ouse.

The Ings, one of the flood defences for York, is inundated, and farmer Chris Kirby woke this morning to find his farm submerged.

"The water is back and covering large parts of my land. The gates at Linton Lock have been left open and caused this area to flood already."

He claimed the Environment Agency was "hopeless" at managing the sluice gates.

A spokesman for the agency said the penstock sluice gates were opened after the last bout of flooding to allow trapped water to return to the river, but after an "oversight" they were left open.

"The Environment Agency's resources are working at full stretch and due to an oversight the sluice was not closed," said a spokesman.

The Agency issued a flood warning for paths along the Ouse in York and Naburn Lock, and a flood watch for rivers and streams in the Vale of York.

The Ouse was expected to peak at 10ft above normal by early evening - at the height of the flooding the river reached 17ft.