Bishopthorpe resident Paul Seward is seen here in an example of time-lapse photography, displaying what has and has not changed in 53 years.

Mr Seward, 62, of Acaster Lane, who has lived in the village all his life, was photographed as a nine-year-old standing knee deep in the great floods of 1947.

He said: "I used to live in Main Street and some of those houses there are flooded now.

"In 1947 this lady took a photo of me standing in the floods.

"This is the first time Main Street has been flooded like that since 1947. It's really terrible down there.

"Back then I can remember there was a builders' yard and they built a raft to get in and out on, and there was an old dear living on a barge down by the river and firemen had to come and rescue her.

"They let a local guy, Geoff 'Shinny' Hudson, who still lives in the village, go out on a boat on a rope to her."

The road in Main Street, formerly called Sundial Terrace, was raised by six inches in the 1960s. Back in 1947 the water in the street was much deeper.

Now Mr Seward said it was just a case of watching and waiting. His house is high enough to be out of danger, and he and his wife Elizabeth are used to flood water on the ings.

While the rest of the population anxiously waits what the river has in store, the conditions are proving ideal for some of Bishopthorpe's feathered residents.

Mr Seward said: "Our back garden, which is three acres of ings land, is under 12 feet of water. There is usually a duck pond there and our ducks are paddling around the ings having a lovely time."