NEARLY a week's worth of rain battered down on York in just half-an-hour when a

torrential downpour caused flood chaos in shops and homes across the city.

One minute it was a bright sunny day - but the next the heavens opened when violent rain and hailstones drenched York with 8.4mm of rain in the afternoon, mostly during a 20 minute period from about 1.20pm.

Paul Mott, a forecaster at London's PA WeatherCentre, said the average rainfall for the whole of May was 50mm.

The downpour caused serious flooding in shops and homes, with five fire crews kept busy pumping out water from about 20 properties in Micklegate, Portland Street, St Leonard's Place, St Martin's Lane and Front Street.

Later in the afternoon, a bolt of lightning struck Lord Deramore's Primary School, in Heslington, during a second storm, creating a metre-wide hole in the roof. The school's pupils were not present at the time and the hole was repaired during the afternoon.

Haydn Lewis, a 29-year-old Press journalist, described how he struggled to open the door of his Portland Street basement flat because of the sea of brown water which was a foot-and-a-half deep throughout every room.

He said: "The fire brigade came within minutes to pump it out. They couldn't shift the water to start with.

"It has gone throughout the whole flat. I am absolutely gutted. I have been in the flat almost a year - I have painted and decorated, bought new furniture. But all my furniture is ruined and the water has gone into the electrics."

Barnitts hardware store, in Colliergate, was hit by the storm with a suspended ceiling in the bathroom equipment area collapsing. Ceiling tiles in the first-floor sales area

crumbled under the weight of water they had absorbed from a leak in the floor above.

Managing director Ian Thompson said the area had been free of customers at the time. Water also flowed into the shop's ground floor from small yards that had become flooded with water, and its hardware area was dripping with water from a leak in a single-storey part of the building.

Macdonalds furniture store, in Fossgate, was also hit with a leaking bay window causing a small flood.

Elliott's Picture Frames, in King's Square, was closed after water flooded into the store from a back yard, damaging some stock; Jessops camera store, in Piccadilly, was closed because of flooding, and the travel and fiction sections of Waterstone's booksellers, in High Ousegate, were partially flooded with some stock damaged by the water. Morrison's supermarket, in Acomb, was also deluged with water.

Helmsley also saw a period of intense heavy rain, with 5mm falling.

Mr Mott said the York storm was caused by warm and cool air meeting.

Updated: 09:38 Saturday, May 13, 2006