PEOPLE have been rescued from cars and flood hit properties as bad weather struck the region.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue say they have dealt with numerous incidents as a result of heavy rain.

"Between 1130 and 1330 today Fire control received approximately 60 reports of flooding to properties in various areas of Scarborough," said a spokeswoman for the service.

"We currently have eight fire engines with 50 crew members attending flooding incidents throughout Scarborough following heavy downpours.

"Crews have been assisting with rescuing people from cars trapped in floodwater and at properties with vulnerable residents.  They are now working their way around areas of Scarborough giving assistance to residents affected by flooding."

The inner ring road through York city centre was blocked by flooding and buildings inundated, following this morning's thunderstorm.

A stretch of Fishergate between Castle Mills Bridge and the Barbican was covered by about a foot of floodwater, with police on standby.

The flash flood caused roads around the city to become gridlocked, but the situation is now starting to ease and traffic is flowing more easily.

Letting rooms at the back of the Masons Arms which were badly flooded in late 2015 and then refurbished have been flooded again, along with the car park, said a member of staff, Mike Pickering.

He said drains in the street appeared unable to cope. "It's absolutely disgusting," he said. "The water came down the car park like a river."

He understood that a woman's bedroom in a neighbouring building had also been flooded.

Lynette Mills, who lives on the top floor of a block next to the Mason's Arms, said dirty water streamed out of a blocked drain into ground floor communal areas.

She couldn't open the front door onto the street, she said, and water flowed right through her building, and through the garden down to the river.

Lynette said she was angry with the reponse from Yorkshire Water, but she praised City of York Council for "stepping in" to unblock drains and clean up the street and inside her building.

A spokesman for the Peasholme Centre for homeless people in Fishergate said a small amount of floodwater came through the front door before staff were able to block it with a temporary flood barrier, which prevented any serious damage.

The flooding followed torrential rain which fell as a storm passed through the city at about 10.30am.

Yorkshire Water say pumps were brought into action to try and clear the water.

The company's Duncan Macintyre said: "We can confirm that our
pumping station at Castle Mills in York city centre is currently in
operation to help reduce the impact of the recent heavy rainfall being
experienced and we have operators on site to carefully monitor the
situation.

"We are also working closely with City of York Council and the
Environment Agency."

The Met Office said some areas had had as much as 40mm of rain on Wednesday morning, but the worst had passed.

Spokesman Oli Claydon said the heavy, thundery downpours were the result of weather systems related to those affecting Northern Ireland on Tuesday, where emergency services responded to 60 flooding instances between 7pm and 11pm.

Mr Claydon said the worst of the downpours were moving east, creating drier conditions for the coming days.

He said:"The flooding would most likely have been due to the intensity of the showers, but the main intensity started coming through around 9 o'clock this morning and is moving east fairly quickly, so it will clear out to the east in the afternoon."

Met Office spokeswoman Nicky Maxey said that early, unverified figures indicated the UK had already had around 96 per cent of the expected rainfall for August, with the potential for more to come.

However, she said the weather systems were generally in keeping with the types of rainfall the UK experiences in summer months.

"It's not particularly unusual to see these heavy bursts.

"The ones which went through Leeds and Northern Ireland overnight were particularly heavy, but it's common for our summer rainfall to fall in a few heavy bursts rather than frontal rain that can last for a few days in the winter."