FLASH floods caused havoc as North Yorkshire firefighters attempted to deal with hundreds of emergency calls.

Service spokesman Terry Glover said 140 calls for help were received in two hours as heavy rainfall hit the county yesterday afternoon, with more coming in throughout the evening.

They included two homes, in Newby Wiske, near Northallerton, and Harrogate, which were struck by lightning.

Areas worst affected by the storms included Ripon, Northallerton and Harrogate.

"It was pretty mad," said Mr Glover.

"We had to prioritise the calls and get to the potentially life-threatening ones first. It's obviously distressing for somebody watching water coming into their homes, but if another home is struck by lightning then we have to attend that one first."

North Yorkshire Police put out a warning for motorists to make only essential journeys last night as roads were affected by deep standing water.

The Environment Agency today said flood watches remained in Stamford Bridge, the Vale of York and the North York Moors.

An agency spokesman said problems in the area had been drainage related, and rivers had not risen to dangerous levels.

In West Yorkshire, between 150 and 200 people were evacuated from their homes after the River Colne burst its banks.

West Yorkshire Fire Service said many residents in Marsden, near Huddersfield, spent part of last night in a working men's club because of flooding.

In Scotland, rescuers were today resuming a search in Riddrie Cemetery, east Glasgow, for a 18-year-old man who was reported missing after he failed to return from walking a dog.

It is feared the teenager may have fallen into a flooded 15ft hole.

Tens of thousands of railway passengers faced continuing massive disruption on ScotRail services.

Glasgow's main Queen Street station was closed due to a potential landslip in the tunnel.

The M8, M80 and M9 in the central region were also affected by vast pools of surface water.

Among the hundreds of people evacuated in Scotland were 200 guests who were moved out of a hotel in Stirlingshire amid fears that water pouring from a hillside could destabilise the building.

Babies and people in wheelchairs were among those evacuated from the Tighmore Hotel in the Trossachs area. Dozens of families in the Shettleston area of Glasgow had to be rescued by boat after water flooded their homes.

Forecasters said today that the worst of the weather should now have passed - but warned that more rain was on the way during the week.

A PA WeatherCentre spokesman said: "It is very difficult to predict exactly what is going to happen in the next 72 hours, but we believe the worst of the rain has passed."

Updated: 11:43 Wednesday, July 31, 2002