We have got all our electrical sockets fixed three or four foot above floor level

Rupert Hilliard, York householder

He told BBC News Online: "We were up until 0300 GMT [on Tuesday] moving everything upstairs and we have put up 1,000 sandbags in the front of the house.

"It is right outside the door."

As the River Wharfe rose firefighters spent Monday night and Tuesday morning pumping the water out of flooded houses in Tadcaster, between Leeds and York.

Roads closed

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said the Wharfe had risen to about three metres above its normal level in the Ilkley and Otley areas.

West Yorkshire Police warned motorists to avoid several roads in the region, including parts of the A658, A660 and A656 which had been closed due to floods.

Homes are under water in Shrewsbury

Householders in York have already experienced flooding in June and November 2000, and in February 2001.

On Tuesday Mr Hilliard said: "They [Environment Agency] have told us it will be four-and-a-half metres above normal, and we flood at four point two.

"We try to make ourselves as flood proof as possible, we have got all our electrical sockets fixed three or four foot above floor level.

Car parks

"We have done what we can... what we want is a commitment to put defences in place even if it does take time to work out a design which is suitable for the centre of a historic city.

"But funding is decided regionally, and people from Sheffield and West Yorkshire and Hull are more interested in street lamps and schools than they are in flooding."

The Environment Agency has issued 53 flood warnings in the North East.

Elsewhere, in Shrewsbury people are being urged to move their vehicles off car parks near the river before they are flooded.

The Welsh Bridge has been closed to traffic and shoppers are being advised to use park-and-ride services.

Train services

The River Severn is expected to peak at 1700 GMT on Tuesday.

There are severe flood warnings in place on Severn and the River Vyrnwy in Shropshire.

In the West Country, there has been severe disruption of First Great Western train services after flooding in Chipping Sodbury Tunnel, causing the route between Swindon and Bristol Parkway to be closed.

In Wales, nine flood warnings are in place.