Tree remains across River Foss and footpath in York

Parts of a poplar tree which fell into the River Foss last week remain lying in the water, as the Met Office issued a yellow warning for rain across York and North Yorkshire.

As reported in The Press yesterday, the tree came down in the river near the junction of Huntington Road and Heworth Green.

Parts of the crown have come over the railings of Monk Bridge.

The branches have come over onto Monk Bridge (Image: Kevin Glenton)

Parts of the tree which are on the western bank of the river have been freshly cut.

When The Press visited at around 1.15pm today (September 23), there did not appear to be any debris or objects resting against the main tree trunk close to where it was partially submerged in the water.

Branches of the tree appear to have been freshly cut over the footpath (Image: Kevin Glenton) Yesterday, York Rescue Boat said it was monitoring the location as heavy rain had been forecast for today. 

The team feared the blockage could cause flooding upstream of the tree.

Ben Grabham, head of environmental services at City of York Council, said: “The tree blew over on Friday afternoon (September 20) and the scene was checked over by a member of our team who cleared any branches which were obstructing the pathway.

"No property damage was sustained, and the tree trunk is not blocking the flow of water in the Foss.

“Our team were on site today cutting up the parts of the tree on land.

"Removing the trunk of the tree which has fallen across the river will take longer as we are in the process of arranging the specialist equipment needed to do this safely, but we are aiming to get the tree cleared as soon as we can."

The council said fencing will be installed around the tree and asked that nobody try to climb on it or get too close until it’s safe.

There were no flood warnings or alerts for York as at 1.37pm today, according to the Environment Agency, and it said there was a very low risk forecast for the next five days.

Upstream from Monk Bridge on the River Foss, in Huntington, at 1pm today, the river was at a height of 0.79 metres and falling.

The Environment Agency had no flood warnings or alerts in place for York as of 1.37pm today (September 23) (Image: Kevin Glenton) The top of the river’s normal range in this area is 2.2 metres.

At the same time, further upstream in West Lilling, levels were 0.33 metres and rising against the top of the normal range of 2.50 metres.

This comes as yellow warnings were issued by the Met Office for rain across York and North Yorkshire for 24 hours from midnight today (September 23).

Some affected areas will see 60-80mm of rain through Monday – while a few places could see in excess of 120mm, the Met Office said.

Forecasters also said there may be more warnings in the week ahead.

Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey previously told the PA news agency that the Humber could see more than a month’s worth of rain falling today.