The number of severe flood warnings across the North of England has now reduced to nine.

The Environment Agency, external say six remain in force in the North East and three in the North west.

Chris Long
Reporter, BBC News Online

Rochdale's Labour MP Simon Danczuk says more needs to be done to prevent flooding, including diverting overseas aid funds.

"Why do we spend money in Bangladesh when it needs spending in Great Britain? What we need to do is to sort out the problems which are occurring here and not focus so much on developing countries. That has to be our priority," he said.

He was speaking after Rochdale and nearby Littleborough were hit by heavy flooding at the weekend.

Bell Farm Social Hall in Roche Avenue, York, has opened for people to donate items for those affected by the flooding.

Chris Long
Reporter, BBC News Online

A housing association in Bury has praised the "instinctive community spirit" that is helping residents clear up after flooding.

Image source, IVHA

Irwell Valley Housing Association and their contractors Adamas have been "out again this morning assisting over 100 residents affected by floods in the area", a spokeswoman says.

Image source, IVHA

IVHA managing director Cath Mustafa says the "resilience of everyone affected and the instinctive community spirit to pull together at such a difficult time is truly astonishing".

Engineers for BT are working "flat out" to restore phone and broadband services across Yorkshire and the North East after flooding damaged the York BT exchange.

A spokesman said: "Severe flooding in the Yorkshire area has resulted in the loss of some phone and broadband services.

"The York BT exchange has been damaged by flood water and Openreach engineers are currently repairing damage to the building’s power supply.  

"Our engineers are working flat out to restore services as soon as possible and we’re sorry for the inconvenience caused."

David Cameron has spent the morning in York to see the damage caused by the floods.

He's been meeting emergency teams at Fulford Road police station where a specialist command centre to deal with flooding has been set up. 

The BBC News helicopter captured these shots of the latest situation in York and its surrounding areas, including Cawood.

Restaurant owner Naiya Khatri says she has been "completely devastated" by the flooding. 

She and her husband recently took over 29 States, an Indian restaurant in the town centre.

Image source, Naiya Khatri

"The restaurant is flooded with nearly 5ft of water inside the property. Our kitchen, bar equipment, furniture and fixtures are damaged. My partner is still trying to get through to the insurance company." 

Phone lines have been affected at all York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust sites.

NHS England, external said incoming calls to sites at York, Scarborough, Malton and Selby had been affected.

A temporary switchboard has been established - 01723 385088

Chris Long
Reporter, BBC News Online

A Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman says they received more than 300 flood-related calls across the weekend.

She says it is believed crews "rescued up to 1,000 people in less than 24 hours when water levels rose so rapidly yesterday that whole towns were cut off".

More than 1,100 homes in the area remain without power following flooding.  

An RAF Chinook helicopter has been drafted in to transport equipment needed to repair the Foss barrier in York.

Four out of eight pumps were not working because electrical equipment used to power them failed when the control room was inundated with water.

The pumps are expected to be working later this afternoon.

BT reports there have been numerous phone faults caused by flooding in Leeds and York.

Click here to see which areas are affected, external.

More than 1,100 homes in Greater Manchester remain without power following flooding in the area across the weekend.

Electricity North West said about 680 customers in Bury and 480 in Rochdale were still cut off.

The company has reconnected more than 24,750 customers in the past two days.

City of York Council says, external there's a temporary number and email for its customer centre - 07500 100398 or flood@york.gov.uk, external.

Chris Steward, City of York Council leader, says it will be business as usual once the city has recovered from the deluge.

"We as a city cope with flooding brilliantly. It is business as usual, it's just these isolated couple of days that we're saying don't travel here."

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service says it has attended almost 200 incidents, external, mostly flooding related, since early on Boxing Day.

They have rescued people trapped in vehicles in flood water and those who have been trapped in properties  

Crews are currently in Malton and York carrying out pumping operations.