THE moment when the floods might fleetingly have seemed exciting is now long gone. Relentless rain and swollen rivers continue to be an uncomfortable feature of our lives. For some, there is mounting inconvenience - and for others, there is nothing but misery.

Behind the suffering, there are plenty of examples of humour, camaraderie, and neighbourliness. Yet for many there is the agony of seeing their homes and their livelihoods washed away by rivers that are proving dangerously difficult to control.

A photograph we print today, one of so many this newspaper has taken over the past week, sums up the human cost of the floods. Marilyn Coates is shown being ferried back to dry land after viewing her flooded business at Stamford Bridge. This poor woman's face says much about the floods, and her obvious unhappiness sums up what life is like for those whose homes or businesses have been inundated.

Amid the flooding, life must go on. One Selby couple are celebrating the birth of their own "water baby" after the shock of being evacuated from their Barlby home was enough to start labour. Teacher Joanne Warrington put a different meaning to breaking the waters when she gave birth to a baby girl, Amelia Rose, who weighed in at an impressive 9lb 13oz.

While businesses small and large are suffering because of the floods, with shops reporting low sales and hotels worrying about the lack of visitors, everyday life carries on as best as possible. In the twin towns of Malton and Norton, Norman Jefferson has turned a tractor into an impromptu bus. He has been driving through the flooded River Derwent with passengers sitting on straw bailers in the trailer. Sadly, rising water levels now threaten this imaginative form of transport.

If any good at all can be said to accompany such a crisis, it is a rise in neighbour speaking to neighbour. The floods provide people with a common enemy and with true Yorkshire grit, everyone is sticking together and getting on as best as possible.

All we can hope for now is a change in the wretched weather.