It was a familiar watery scene for York this weekend, with the River Ouse running at more than 12ft above its normal level for this time of year.

And this morning, staff at the famous King's Arms, which regularly floods, were busy with mopping-up operations to re-open the riverside pub, as the Ouse receded.

This morning it was flowing at 10ft 6in above its normal level.

"The river's still up over the bank, but it's out of the pub, and people can get in from the King's Street side," said Lynn Deamer, who works at the pub.

"We're in the middle of mopping up here and we should be able to open by noon."

The Environment Agency originally declared an amber flood alert in the city over the weekend, as the river rose to its peak of 12ft 3in at around 8.30am on Sunday.

By 11.15am on Sunday, however, the river was not expected to rise any further and the alert was relaxed to a yellow flood warning.The Foss Barrier was closed to try to alleviate the situation.

King's Staith and Queen's Staith at Ouse Bridge in York were both flooded, as was St George's Field car park, but no other properties were affected.

The Ings flood meadows further upstream were also under water.

Near Boroughbridge, an amber warning was issued but no properties were affected, and at Cattal, the riverside road was flooded.

The Ouse was expected to drop to its normal winter levels by tomorrow, barring further rain.

On Saturday, rowers were disappointed when the annual Head of the River race was cancelled for safety reasons because of the speed at which the river was flowing.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.