The Ouse Washes are an internationally important area for wildlife. Sandwiched between the Old Bedford and New Bedford rivers, they consist of washland which is used as pasture during the summer but which floods in the winter, and are the largest area of such land in the United Kingdom.

When did the River Great Ouse last flood?

Mr Burrows, for the EA, said the counties of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, had the last "big floods" in Easter 1998 when "many hundreds" of homes were flooded.

Why does the River Ouse flood?

5. Climate – The Ouse section of the basin is flat and receives about as much precipitation (640mm per year) as is lost through evapo-transpiration (540mm per year). The water that floods York hence comes from the Dales area which receives heavy rainfall, which ends up in York via the Swale, Ure and Nidd tributaries.