UK – RRT support for Emergency Services and Army during January floods in York

The historic city of York, located on the River Ouse was particularly badly hit by the recent flooding which swept across the north of England during January. The river rose to almost 5.4m above its normal summer levels – very close to its previous record height.  This overwhelmed the city’s flood defenses, and resulted in hundreds of homes being flooded out, cars were submerged and roads were closed, including the main A59 Harrogate to York road.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service took 600 calls and attended 292 flooding incidents between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day!  They were so inundated with calls for help that the Army was drafted in to assist.   The Harrogate division of the RRT have become established supporters of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service on previous major incidents, and quickly established a refreshment base at Strensall Army  Barracks from which they were able to provide food and hot drinks for weary emergency service crews.  The following images show some of the scenes from the action, together with a thank you letter from the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service for RRT’s support.