Worst floods in Yorkshire history: Looking back on the worst floods across the region in the last 24 years including in Leeds, York, Hull and North York Moors

A yellow weather warning has been issued across Yorkshire for heavy rainfall and is expected to be persistent over the next few days.

There were a number of extreme flooding events that have occurred over the last two decades that resulted in severe damage to properties, disruption and even fatalities.

The worst-affected areas included cities, towns and villages in Yorkshire with the time of year ranging from spring to summer to autumn and winter seasons.

Worst floods in Yorkshire over the past 24 years

The wet autumn of 2000

From September to November of 2000, it was the wettest on record over England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as the UK as a whole - in a series from 1914.

An England and Wales rainfall series from 1766 reveals that this event was the highest. The wet weather brought widespread flooding to England and Wales as rivers rose to record levels and burst their banks.

The disruption was exacerbated by some very strong winds at the end of October and damaged buildings, trees and power lines and cut road and rail links.

It was the most extensive impact since the snowmelt-generated floods of March 1947 and 10,000 homes and businesses were flooded in 700 locations. Peak flows on five major rivers - including River Wharfe - were the highest for sixty years and the River Ouse in Yorkshire reached its peak level since the 1600s.

The River Ouse in York was 5.3m above its normal summer level and the flooding there was reported to be the worst in 400 years; 5,000 properties were affected.

Flooding in North Yorkshire (June 2005)

There were heavy and thundery downpours that developed over north-west England and north Wales on June 19, 2005.

The worst affected areas were around the North York Moors, with flooding in Helmsley and areas surrounding it.

Hawnby was reported to have the most intense rainfall, including just over 50mm in a 30-minute period.

Heavy rainfall and flooding (June 2007)

Record levels of heavy rainfall on June 24 and 25 in Yorkshire resulted in widespread flooding and disruption.

By June 15, towns and villages in North Yorkshire, particularly Knaresborough, Harrogate and York, were flooded and the A59 road at Kex Gill was closed due to a landslip where 100 tonnes of earth slid down the hillside and trapped a couple in their car.

Near Catterick, a 17-year-old soldier on a training exercise course died after being swept away whilst crossing Risedale Beck, Hipswell Moor.

Six elderly women in Wakefield, including a 91-year-old, were stranded in their homes.

Middlesbrough and Pickering were also affected by flooding and on July 18, streams overflowed and roads were blocked in Barton, Gilling West, Melsonby, Hartforth, Scotch Corner, Middleton Tyas and Kirby Hill after a freak rainstorm. Pensioners were stranded in a Filey swimming pool and rescued by a lifeboat.

Roads, schools, festivals were all disrupted and cancelled in Hull, including the Hull Lord Mayor’s Parade. Hessle, the border between Hull City Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council, suffered two square miles of severe sewage-contaminated flooding.

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On June 25, fire crews had received more than 1,500 calls in a 12-hour period and dozens of homes in Beverley and around 50 people at a Hull nursing home were evacuated, boats were used to evacuate about 90 people from four feet of floodwater in Hull’s County Road North, and in Hessle a 28-year-old man died after becoming trapped in a drain.

The next day, only 12 out of Hull’s 88 schools remained open, affecting 30,000 out of 38,000 schoolchildren in Hull.

Around 35,000 people in streets consisting of 17,000 homes had been affected by flooding in Hull and the next day more than 10,000 homes had been evacuated. The repair cost the council £200,000.

Record rainfall (April to July 2012)

The UK experienced a period of exceptionally wet weather which broke previous rainfall records and resulting in several significant flood events.

The flooding affected all of England, Wales and eastern Scotland and the period between April and July were the wettest on record in the England and Wales precipitation series from 1766, while for the UK overall, summer 2012 (June, July and August) was the wettest period since 1912.

Areas of West Yorkshire were affected by the flash flooding from the River Calder three times in two weeks during June and July.

Evacuations of properties and caravan parks were enforced in Wales, Yorkshire and eastern Scotland.

A sustained period of exceptionally wet weather from mid-December to New Year resulted in severe and extensive flooding across the north of the UK.

Power outages affected 20,000 homes and there was severe flooding in the Pennines, including Mythamroyd and Hebden Bridge. As floodwaters moved downstream, thousands of properties were consequently flooded in York, Leeds and surrounding areas.

Heavy rainfall (July 2019)

Thunderstorms from an area of low pressure resulted in flooding across parts of northern England on July 30 and 31, 2019.

Extreme downpours caused flash-flooding, with 40 to 60mm recorded in one hour across parts of North Yorkshire and around 60 to 80mm or more falling in two hours.

The Yorkshire Dales experienced intense downpours which resulted in flash-flooding on July 30 and parts of Swaledale and Arkengarthdale were worst affected. A bridge near Grinton collapsed and a landslip closed the railway line between Carlisle and Skipton.

Severe flooding in South Yorkshire (November 2019)

A swathe from the Humber to Sheffield saw 50 to 100mm of rainfall, around the whole-month average rainfall or more in a period of 24-hours.

The persistent heavy rain, falling on already saturated catchments, resulted in severe flooding from the River Don in South Yorkshire.

Around 500 homes were flooded in Doncaster and hundreds of people evacuated in areas affected by flooding.

Exceptionally wet weather (May 2024)

Parts of England, southern and eastern Scotland and North Wales, from May 21 to 23 experienced extremely wet weather from a slow-moving weather front associated with an area of low pressure centred off the east coast of the UK.

On May 22, northern England recorded its wettest spring day in series from 1891.

A schoolgirl tragically died in mudslide at Carlton-in-Cleveland in North Yorkshire and there was widespread disruption across the rail network.