Heavy rain last year caused tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage to a number of properties in the village when water levels breached the lip of the canal.

There were fears that similar scenes could have been repeated over this past weekend when torrential downpours caused the navigation to swell to dangerous levels once more.

Residents in Garton-on-the Wolds and Ruston Parva suffered flooding problems but Wansford escaped, largely because thousands of gallons of excess water was diverted under the newly completed £20,000 bywash.
The bywash, which has been built on behalf of the Driffield Navigation Trust by Simpson Civil Engineering, was brought into operation as water levels began to rise following heavy rain.

Chairman of the Commissioners of the Driffield Navigation Trust, David Hamilton, said that the bywash around the canal lock had been tested over the weekend but had been equal to the challenge.

He believed that without the bywash in operation, water levels in the canal at Wansford might have been almost equal to those which caused so many problems last year.

"We have kept our promise to the people and to Wansford," he said. "I think that it was tested and it survived."

The money to build the bywash had been provided by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council and via grants from other organisations.

Your Five day forecast shows rain, rain and more rain. Today, Wednesday, there is expected to be rain with some brighter spells but weather reports for Thursday, Friday and Saturday show a pretty dismal outlook with frequent rain.