Landslide puts paid to resort holiday homes

A row of Victorian former jetworkers’ cottages on the hillside below Whitby Abbey is set to be demolished as soon as tomorrow following a landslide.

Five of the seven houses of Aelfleda Terrace are reported to have been condemned after their rain-saturated gardens slipped away in the early hours yesterday.

The 150-year-old cottages were not damaged but their foundations are unknown and there are fears further subsidence could threaten properties below.

One woman living there was ordered to pack her bags yesterday but most of the properties were unoccupied holiday homes.

As many as 60 homes in Old Malton were threatened by a lake of water contaminated with sewage last night after the town’s flood defences were outmanoeuvred by its ageing drainage system.

The £9.3m scheme prevented the River Derwent from breaking its banks but could not stop the backlog of water bubbling up through the drains.

Firefighters had to rope themselves to trees and use dinghies to negotiate the half-mile flood, which had cut the village in half, swamped parked vehicles, and nearly reached the parish church.

Residents Claire and Guy Richardson could only stand and watch as their home was flooded with foul-smelling water.

Mrs Richardson, 38, said: “The fire brigade put out sandbags and plastic sheeting but they couldn’t stop it. In the end, it just came up through the floors and we were ankle deep in it.”

While tens of thousands of litres were being pumped out of the village every minute, the deluge was being fed by more water draining off surrounding countryside.

Resources were stretched further last night when more flooding in nearby Norton forced the closure of Church Street. The bridge linking Norton with Malton was also affected.

About 50 roads in North Yorkshire were affected altogether and train services between York and Newcastle also faced delays.

The Highways Agency said work was continuing last night to clear flooding on the A19 between Thirsk and Seaton Burn and on the A1 at Catterick. which was affected for a second day.

The Agency warned long delays were possible and said further overnight closures would be required on the A66 at Ravensworth for repair work to the carriageway.

A Highways Agency spokesman said: “We are doing everything we can to keep our network of motorways and major A-roads open, and we are working hard to clear the floodwater and prevent further flooding from occurring.”

In York, water again seeped into riverside properties as water levels on the River Ouse rose, causing a number of road closures.

A York Council spokeswoman said last night that river levels were forecast to reach a peak of between 15.1ft and 15.7ft in the early hours of this morning.

In September, when about 50 properties flooded, the Ouse peaked at about 16.5ft above normal summer levels – the second highest level since records began and only beaten by the flooding disaster of 2000.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said it had attended 46 flooding incidents yesterday, pumping out properties in Pickering and Malton and rescuing stranded motorists and animals.

They included the rescue by boat of a woman and three dogs at Clifton Ings, York, after they became trapped on the riverbank.

Anne McIntosh, MP for Thirsk, Malton and Filey, yesterday pressed for action to guarantee affordable cover for at-risk properties when a deal between the Government and insurers expires.

She said: “I believe a new flood levy on household insurance would be inappropriate, but that a percentage of the current insurance premium tax which we all pay on household contents and building insurance policies should be placed into a fund to insure the most vulnerable properties.”