A DEADLY combination of high winds and heavy rain left hundreds of Wharfedale homes without power - and sent the emergency services on a desperate rescue mission.

Police underwater divers and helicopters and fire crews were called to Apperley Bridge at noon on Saturday, after someone was spotted in the River Aire.

Many residents in Otley, meanwhile (along with others in Burley-in-Wharfedale and Ilkley) were forced to spend part of Saturday without electricity after the strong winds knocked out electricity supplies. The River Wharfe also broke its banks in places, leading to minor flooding problems.

The hazardous weather and water conditions meant no-one was able to reach the man in the river at Apperley Bridge, and police officers had to watch as he was swept downstream.

An extensive search along the river banks was carried out over the weekend but as yet no trace of the man has been found.

Rawdon firefighters were amongst those called to the rescue attempt at Apperley Bridge. Station Manager Colin Oxley said: "We spent nearly five hours on Saturday searching about eight kilometres of the river, from Bridge End in Kirkstall right up to the bridge over Apperley Bridge, where the man was spotted.

"It was very cold, very windy and the river was very fast - the conditions were pretty bad. The only good thing was that we had a bit of daylight on our side."

A West Yorkshire Police statement said: "Although the police did briefly see the man he was carried away by the river. Unfortunately, due to access problems and the dangerous state of the river no-one was able to offer any assistance."

A police dinghy did manage to get out onto the water but officers were not able to find him. Worsening weather conditions meant the police had to scale down its search on Sunday, but they were hoping to resume again once the flooding levels around the river at Apperley Bridge fell.

The police are now trying to identify the man, who was white, of medium build, in his 40s, with dark, short cropped hair and a full beard. Anyone who thinks they might know him should call 01274 376059.

As far as flooding problems went, the area's fire crews had a relatively quiet time. "There wasn't much to do in Otley or Pool," said Mr Oxley. "The river was high and we kept an eye on it but we had no calls from anyone saying they had been flooded.

"There was quite a bit of structural damage from the high winds, though."

Pool seems to have survived the stormy weekend virtually unscathed, with no power cuts and some flooding on the playing fields the only real problem reported.

By Monday, Yorkshire Electricity (YE) had re-connected most of the homes that lost their supplies over the weekend.

In Otley, most only suffered a few hours of lost power on Saturday, but in Burley-in-Wharfedale around 50 homes had to wait until the early hours of Monday morning before normal service was resumed.

YE says the atrocious weather conditions had hampered its repair efforts, which involved more than 400 employees working through the weekend.

The company had to restore power to a total of 142,000 houses, including between 450 and 500 in the Otley, Burley and Ilkley area.

Ilkley took a battering in the storms last weekend with a full emergency team being called out by Bradford Council to deal with the expected victims.

Roads were closed because of flooding and falling trees, a co-ordination and emergency shelter was set up at Ilkley Town Hall, and fire crews had to rescue the occupants of stranded cars on Denton Road.

Ilkley Fire Station officer Alex Watson said that three cars had to be towed to safety after becoming stuck in flood water on Friday evening. "They had set off without realising it was so bad - they were a bit upset," said Mr Watson. No-one was injured in the incident."

There was flooding on Denton Road and houses had to be sandbagged to keep the water out. Playing fields were underwater and the Olicanians Cricket Club fields were also inundated.

Ilkley District and Parish Councillor Anne Hawkesworth said that a flood relief team from Bradford Council sprang into action on Friday evening after a warning was issued by the Environment Agency.

The team set up a co-ordination centre at Ilkley Town Hall on Station Road and equipped another room for evacuated victims. Coun Hawkesworth said blankets and hot drinks were available but fortunately, they were not needed.

She said that three houses on Gilstead Way were flooded at the ground floor level. Other properties were protected by sandbags put out by council workers.

Coun Hawkesworth said: "We had an emergency team set up after getting a warning of flooding peaks at 2am and at 6am, but the 6am flood did not happen."

In addition to flooding, the high winds also caused problems. Part of Middleton Road was closed after a fir tree, blown over by the wind, threatened to come crashing down on passing vehicles. The tree, at the site of a flats development at the junction of Middleton Road and Denton Road,was later removed.

In Addingham, the old Ilkley Road was closed because of flooding and the weir at Low Mill was completely submerged by the surge flowing down the Wharfe.

Addingham Parish Council chairman Gordon Campbell said that flooding was confined to the old Ilkley Road but other damage, such as trees being blown over, had occurred in the village.

Coun Campbell said that in the main part of the village the beck had swollen significantly but as far as he knew no homes had been badly affected by flooding.

Business and property owners on Ashlands Road industrial estate in Ilkley mounted an all-night vigil to make sure the flood waters were kept at bay. Earlier in the day, council workers had cleaned out the drain on Backstone Beck to make sure water could flow under the A65 and into the river without backing up.

Mike Holt, owner of Brand Auto Bodies, said that the estate had flooded many times in the past but this time the businesses managed to escape.

But he said that the business owners and landlords were still waiting for Bradford Council and the gas company Transco to repair a blocked drain in the area. Council workers discovered that a high-pressure gas main had been laid through the drain, blocking off the channel. Negotiations between Trasco and Bradford Council were still taking place to work out how and when the work to clear it would be carried out.

Ilkley Rugby Club were due to play Yarnbury, but the match had to be postponed, and tennis courts at Ilkley tennis club were also left underwater by the storms.

Richard Harris, the commercial director of the bus company First said that high winds had disrupted services of buses between Wharfedale and Skipton.

At one point, only single decker buses had been used because of the risk of vehicles blowing over on the exposed stretches of road such as the one at Chelker Reservoir near Addingham.

Ilkley Parish Council chairman, Councillor Brian Mann, praised Bradford Council's fast response to the flooding in Ilkley.

He told parish councillors at Monday's meeting: "I'm pleased to report that Bradford Council's emergency team swung into action at once. It was very effective.

"The whole thing swung into action very impressively and we should be grateful to Bradford Council for that."

He also praised city leaders for clearing out Backstone Beck on Friday, just ahead of the worst weather. The stream which flows down from Ilkley Moor through residential areas of town, overflowed during heavy rain in the summer, flooding several streets in Ilkley.