ROAD closures, people unable to gain access to work and disruption to schools and public transport are among the problems caused by Storm Christoph.

Low-lying areas across North Yorkshire, County Durham and the Tees Valley have all been affected by flooding.

Severe flood warnings remain in place after hundreds of residents were told to leave their homes overnight because of adverse weather caused by Storm Christoph.

The River Ouse in York is set to peak at 4.76 metres above normal at 3am tomorrow - just short of the levels at which there is widescale property flooding, a council official has revealed.

Neil Ferris, corporate director at City of York Council, said the number of properties flooded would be 'in the tens' at this level, with the number affected rising significantly if levels rose to 5.2 or 5.4, as happened in 2015 and 2000.

He also said the River Foss was now thought to have peaked at 2.67 metres, which meant the gardens and outbuildings of some properties near the river were being flooded but homes should stay dry.

The full force of Storm Christoph was also felt across Redcar and Cleveland last night as residents of a Loftus street came close to being evacuated due to the flooding.

The council and emergency services were called out to East Crescent, Loftus, when the street turned into a river due to the heavy rain and the downstairs of some of the properties were flooded.

The storm has caused significant disruption to motorists in the area with a number of routes across the borough being closed due to flooding.

Tees Port staff also struggled to get to and from work on Wednesday night, and Tees Dock Road was closed to in and outbound traffic from 4.30pm on Wednesday to 9am on Thursday.

Jerry Hopkinson, COO and vice chairman of PD Ports, said: "As a result of excessive water running from redundant neighbouring sites, compounded by heavy rainfall, Tees Dock Road was closed.

"Our engineers, security team and Harbour Police worked tirelessly throughout the night in the face of tough weather conditions to reopen the road. Port operations were temporarily affected during this time and have since recommenced."

He added: "Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has gone to great lengths in recent weeks to address the issue of blocked gullies as a result of debris flowing from the redundant neighbouring sites, which are not under the ownership of PD Ports, and on to Tees Dock Road. Unless the outstanding land maintenance issues are urgently addressed by the owners of the neighbouring land, the risk of major flooding, remains serious. This is something we are addressing with RCBC and we are appealing to the owner of the redundant neighbouring sites to rectify the outstanding land maintenance issues urgently."

Old Malton, in Ryedale, was threatened by flooding caused by a combination of high groundwater levels and inadequate drainage from combined sewerage and highway drains. Seven pumps were used to ease the threat on properties.