Two flood watches were in place in North Yorkshire today after the heavy rain across the county during much of this week. The watches - the lowest level of flood warning - are for rivers and streams on the North York Moors and the rivers and streams on the Vale of York from Catterick to Cawood.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: "The decision has been taken as a precaution after heavy rain in Yorkshire. As always, we will monitor things closely and advise residents to keep their eye on the weather, local media and to ring Floodline."

Updated: 11:03 Friday, April 06, 2001