A village near Selby still resembles a caravan park six months after the November floods.

More than 80 houses in Gowdall are still empty and the village is not expected to be fully occupied until after Christmas.

A burger van has been installed behind the village pub to feed the scores of hungry workers.

Villager Anne Young is still living in a caravan with her husband Edward.

She said: "We've now come to terms with it - you've got to get on with life. The caravan is comfortable but we're looking forward to moving back home."

The Environment Agency held another meeting with residents last week to update them on their efforts to prevent the disaster happening again.

Village flood wardens will spread information in the event of another flood.

Villager John Thorp has been living in rented accommodation since November.

He said: "We're still trying to get a bit of normality back into our lives - I'm ready to go home. When you look at what happened in Great Heck it puts things in perspective - we got off lightly."

Meanwhile several residents of Barlby have also resorted to living in mobile homes while their homes are repaired.

Ken and Sylvia Pearson have been living in a caravan beside their flood-damaged property in Halfway House on Barlby Road, since December.

The building was one of the worst hit because of its low position - their living room took in 28 inches of water.

Ken, 71, said: "We'll be here for at least another couple of months - our house is one of the last to be worked on and took a long time to dry out."

The resilient couple are finding life in the mobile home easier than most.

Ken said: "We've got our own touring caravan so we're used to the living conditions.

At times it has been extremely cold during the night and at one point everything froze so we couldn't get any water. Thankfully it's a lot warmer now.

"I'm looking forward to getting my garden back into shape."

Updated: 09:03 Monday, April 30, 2001