Sandbags were back on the streets as worried householders prepared for the worst while heavy rain lashed the region for several days.

Emergency services were called out to deal with a number of incidents of localised flooding across the county, including pumping water away from the Keldgate area of Beverley and from gardens in Canada Drive at Cherry Burton.

But most residents are breathing a sigh of relief after their fears of further flooding proved unfounded.

This included residents of Willow Grove in Beverley, which was particularly badly hit by the floodwaters on June 25 last year.

Chris Lovejoy, who has still not been able to return to his home after last summer’s floods, said this week’s rain sparked fears of a repetition of the flooding.

“We were very concerned because we could see the water beginning to form big puddles and did not know what was going to happen. There was a lot of tension,” he said.

He believes the authorities are still not doing enough to prevent a repetition of the disaster.

“Progress is being made but it is all theoretical so far, with no practical work on the ground.”

But there was relief for other householders thanks to the prompt action of East Riding Council in tackling a huge ‘lake’ of water which formed at the edge of Beverley Westwood as the deluge continued on Monday.

Residents Chris and Lynn Coulter, whose basement in New Walk was flooded with more than four feet of water last June, watched in horror as heavy rains started to fall this week.

Mr Coulter, who is a member of a small steering group of residents set up to negotiate with the authorities to try to avert further flooding, said water funnels down the Westwood near the racecourse following heavy rain.

On Monday he watched anxiously as the water formed a lake of water on the Hurn, near Seven Corners Lane, and alerted the council, which brought in contractors to pump the water away.

Mr Coulter said the council had acted promptly and an estimated one million gallons of water was pumped away from homes.

“I think we were all surprised how quickly the water had built up. The ground was so saturated that it had no sponge capacity left,”, he said.

Now the residents are planning to speak to the council and the Pasture Masters who look after the Westwood to try to find a long-term solution to the problem.

Mr Coulter said that a drain leading up to the Westwood is blocked and the residents are calling for it to be cleaned out.