Storm Jocelyn: Flooding in York and wind causes Shambles to close

Tiles were blown off roofs of buildings in Shambles which forced the historic street to close from 10am.

Shoppers were told to leave the street.

Part of Shambles closed during Storm Jocelyn (Image: Dylan Connell)

By 11.30pm a section of Shambles at the King’s Square end reopened with businesses back trading.

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But one shop employee told The Press that most traders had gone home for the day.

Tourists continued to gather at either end of Shambles taking photographs of the historic buildings which date back to the 14th century.

Flood warnings

Meanwhile, river levels on the Ouse remain high after rainfall during the storm with three flood alerts issued for York.

At 2.30pm the Ouse was at 3.81m and rising at the Viking Recorder – 1.9m is the top of the river’s normal range.  

Flooding in Judi Dench Walk during Storm Jocelyn (Image: Dylan Connell)

Areas close to the river were flooded today, including King’s Staith, Queen’s Staith and Dame Judi Dench walk.

A flood warning was also issued for Naburn Lock, while Rowntree Park and St George’s Field car park remained closed due to flooding.

Dean's Park was also closed due to the weather. 

King's Staith flooded during Storm Jocelyn (Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)

The Environment Agency expects the Ouse to peak at 4.12m at the Viking Recorder tomorrow morning and start to fall from 9am.

Mark Garratt, flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, said teams have been deployed to deal with the flooding.

Tower Gardens flooded during Storm Jocelyn (Image: Dylan Connell)

He urged people to stay away from swollen rivers and not drive through flood water.

Mr Garratt added just 30cm of flowing water is enough to move your car.

Thousands lose power during storm

Thousands of people in areas near York were without power last night.

At 11pm over 2,500 properties across areas of North and East Yorkshire lost power, including in Tockwith, Selby, Pocklington and villages south of Malton.

This morning Northern Powergrid said power had been restored to the properties but other outages remained elsewhere.

Louise Lowes, Northern Powergrid’s director of customer service, said the company is seeing disruption across its network with teams on standby. 

“Weather conditions remain challenging in some areas, but our teams are continuing to work wherever it is safe to do so, and we are supporting our customers," she said. 

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Ms Lowes added: “We thank our customers for their patience. We are doing all we can to provide updates about when we will be able to get their power safely back on.”  

A yellow warning for wind was stood down by the Met Office at 3pm today.

The Met Office expects winds to ease tomorrow in York.

Forecasters say tomorrow will bring light rain changing to clouds by lunchtime.