The River Ouse is set to peak in York early tomorrow at 17ft above normal - five inches higher than in the 1982 disaster.

But Environment Agency chiefs said that level should be inches below the top of the city's flood walls and embankments, which protect hundreds of homes in the city.

The expected peak at 5.45am tomorrow, which follows yesterday's torrential rain, means York is facing its worst flood since 1831.

An agency spokeswoman said: "At this stage we are not predicting that it will overtop the existing flood defences. It will be a few inches below."

City of York Council said this afternoon they were not recommending that people move furniture upstairs yet, but householders could do this as a precautionary measure if they wished.

The figures were released as the army revealed that 500 soldiers and airmen are now on standby across the county to help meet the crisis.

In York, more than 50 soldiers were bolstering defences along the flood walls near Lendal Bridge at North Street - the lowest point in the Ouse defences.

Many of the 200 signallers from Fulford's Imphal Barracks have already been deployed filling sandbags and shoring up flood defences - with leave cancelled at the base.

Meanwhile, it was revealed today that Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was visiting flood-stricken North Yorkshire this afternoon.

Meanwhile, a glimmer of hope emerged today as weather forecasters predicted Yorkshire would escape Sunday's storms.

PA Weather Forecasters said they had changed their prediction since yesterday and now expected that the north of the country would not be affected by storms forecast for Sunday.

Askham Bryan College said one and a half inches of rain fell between 9am yesterday and 9am today. Five inches fell in the whole of October.

The Ouse was continuing to rise this afternoon near the Leeman Road area of York.

Residents were not overly concerned about the immediate threat, as the water remained about two feet below the top of the flood bank.

But they said they had been told by the Environment Agency that Sunday is D-Day - when serious flooding could occur.

Damon Copperthwaite, head of highway infrastructure at the council, said in his opinion the city's flood defences would not be breached.

York MP Hugh Bayley today visited the hectic flood room of the City of York Council. He said he had been astonished by the Blitz spirit of local people.

"It's a very difficult time for everybody involved in defending the city and trying to protect people's property, but they are working literally round the clock to do everything they can."

"They have been under pressure for the last two days at least, everything shows the flood defences are working well and we have had no problems with it at all. All the problems we have had we have been able to cope with. But who knows what might happen."

The flood waters have affected two of City of York Council's schools. New Earswick Primary School will be closed until Monday because the boilers have flooded and Naburn Primary School will be closed until the end of the flood.

Evacuation centres were opened at Manor School and the Further Education College in Tadcaster Road to accommodate residents of the Leeman Road area and Bishopthorpe after the village started to flood, but no-one took up the offer.

* Railtrack has hired divers to examine the line at Skelton to determine whether any structural damage has been caused by the flooding. The waters are currently too high for checks to be carried out but divers are on standby to inspect the line when the floods subside.

* main surgery of Jorvik Medical Practice, in Peckitt Street, will be closed until the end of next week. Staff are hoping to reopen on Monday, November 13.