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Flooding follows Storm Ciara February 10, 2020

More than 100 flood warnings remained in place on rivers across Yorkshire on the morning of Monday February 10 as rivers burst their banks, bringing devastating flooding to property and roads.

Storm Ciara brought heavy rain as well as high winds which brought down trees.

Train services, already badly hit by alterations for planned engineering, were also severely hit by the storm.

Flooding at Station Road, Mirfield, blocked the station entry and stranded a truckCars navigate the A644 near MirfieldStation Road, MirfieldAmong the rivers most badly affected was the River Calder along the valley between Hebden Bridge and Dewsbury in the Calderdale and Kirklees metropolitan districts of West Yorkshire.

In Mytholmroyd, new flood defences which started to be built after the Boxing Day floods of 2015 still hadn't been completed and were breached. Residents were left with a massive task of clearing away silt, debris and damaged belongings and drying out their property.

Storrs Hill Road, Horbury BridgeThe A6026 Park Road at EllandElland Bridge was again closedElland Bridge, at Elland which was closed for many months following the 2015 floods after a section of the bridge over the flooded canal collapsed, was again closed. This time it was for inspections to the river section of the bridge, crossing the River Calder, after a shipping container washed downstream became jammed against the bridge. The bridge was reopened on Monday morning.

Briggate in Brighouse town centre on Sunday evening of Storm CiaraBriggate car park in BrighouseThe Calder and Hebble Navigation was again flooded and the A6026 Park Road near the canal between Elland and Brighouse was closed but had also reopened by Monday morning.

In Brighouse town centre, the A643 at Briggate was closed by flooding which spread across the road and a car park on Sunday night, nearly reaching the level of the 2015 flood.

Further down the river, the premises and fields of Battyeford Sporting Club was flooded to waist height and in Mirfield flooded areas included Station Road, where the entry to Mirfield station was blocked, and a supermarket car park.

Scammonden Water on Monday of Storm CiaraBooth Wood Reservoir on Monday of Storm CiaraBaitings Reservoir on Monday of Storm CiaraRyburn Reservoir on Monday of Storm CiaraBlakeley Reservoir on Monday of Storm CiaraButterley Reservoir on Monday of Storm CiaraDigley Reservoir on Monday of Storm CiaraRamsden Reservoir on Monday of Storm CiaraBrownhill Reservoir on Monday of Storm CiaraA factor in common with the 2015 floods is the dams of moorland reservoirs used for water supplies were already overspilling during the storm and not holding back any of the water running off the many miles of moorland which ultimately drain into the River Calder.

On Monday, as the waters of the River Calder were just starting to recede, we visited several moorland reservoirs which overspill towards the Calder, some of them via the River Ryburn, River Colne and River Holme. We picture them here, all full to the brim, overflowing and thus unable to stop any more of the water running off the moors.

The water supply company has a "Dealing with flooding" section on its website in which it says: "Yorkshire Water understand that flooding can be one of the most unpleasant things you can experience in your home. That's why we continue to work hard to make sure these incidents are as infrequent as possible."

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