Businesses in the Worth Way area had to put emergency measures into force when the River Worth broke its banks.

The petrol station at Morrisons was closed and staff had to remove all stock from the kiosk after it was submerged in several inches of floodwater in just half an hour.

Workers at Sunwin Nissan removed cars from the forecourt. Other businesses including Carolina Fried Chicken and Fitness First were also frantically watching the rising water.

The ground floor warehouse of Unity Tyres, at Walk Mills, Coney Lane, was swamped in about three feet of water, losing the business a day's trading. General manager Mark Pullen said: "We were unable to get vehicles out of the yard. I have been here 14 years and it is the worst I have seen it."

Firefighters from Keighley were called to Morrisons at about 9.15am on Tuesday.

Station officer Adrian Unsworth said: "The water was coming down Alkincote Street and diverting into the filling station. The water there was rising and there was a danger of it hitting the electrics.

"Fortunately the level of water in Worth Way was lower than the car park so we broke out a section of wall and allowed the water to drain out of the forecourt."

Water was also cascading down Worth Way itself. Cars were slowly working through the single lane open, and traffic queued back in each direction.

Mr Unsworth added: "The water was rising up so we used a pump to get rid of it and bring it back down to a safe level."

Cllr Andrew Mallinson, of In\pulse Electronics on Worth Way, is also Bradford Council's representative on the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee.

He said: "This points back to the same thing as yesterday's floods. It is about the capacity for flash floods. It is all about water storage and water management."

But he said because the problem was becoming more frequent that solutions needed to be found.

The Environment Agency was yesterday still monitoring rivers levels in the area, including the Worth and Aire.