Boats used on the new boating lake at Bradford's Lister Park were commandeered from their winter storage this week to rescue stranded Keighley residents from their fast-flooding homes.

Vessels which were crewed by families enjoying a sunny day in the park only a couple of months ago were used by firefighters to pluck Stockbridge people to safety, as the most severe flooding for decades hit the district early on Tuesday morning.

Quick and creative solutions have been needed during the last week's unprecedented flood chaos.

Senior staff at Bradford Council's control centre in City Hall say Tuesday was the busiest day so far, as residents in the Keighley area were evacuated from their flooded houses.

Social workers were drafted into the town's leisure centre to help residents, many with children, to find somewhere to stay.

And Bradford Council is currently picking up the tab for people in bed and breakfast accommodation who cannot yet return home.

David Kennedy, the council's assistant chief executive, said: "During the day, these people can't go back to their homes so we run events for them and for their kids at Keighley leisure centre. At 6pm every day we inform them of the situation and advise people."

The council organised meals for them at the leisure centre too, thanks to a quickly-drawn-up agreement with Bradford's education catering contractors.

Council staff liaise with a wide variety of other agencies to make sure the public - and other local authority staff - get the right information and advice. Representatives from the public utilities and emergency services also have an input into briefings for residents.

And the council's control centre in City Hall in the heart of Bradford has a police officer helping with advice and decision-making whenever it is open, from 6am to 10pm.

Senior council managers there receive information from council workers out and about in the district - highways and drainage officers, who are checking roads and potential flood spots; social services staff working with evacuated people.

A map is marked with road closures and other significant points, and a computer can display aerial photographs of the district so managers can get a good idea of the geography of the area they are talking about.

And in the next-door room, a public flood hotline is constantly taking calls from worried residents of the district, asking for a wide variety of help, from whether they need sandbags to what the weather forecast is predicting and which roads are closed.

In its first full day of opening, it took about 200 calls from the public, mainly from the Ilkley, Burley, Keighley, Baildon and Menston areas. Hotline staff can give information and advice and pass on requests for sandbags, pass on other useful contact numbers, as well as flagging up important issues which might arise to control centre staff.

Mr Kennedy said council workmen had distributed about 5,000 sandbags to threatened properties in the district, with the council buying in more as they are needed from contractors.

And emergency planning officer Helen Johnston said: "Quite a lot of people will be very distressed about what has happened. We are doing our best to try to help."

Mr Kennedy said the control room was set up regularly on a small scale for events such as the severe winter weather in 1995 or flooding of the River Wharfe, bigger control rooms swung into action in 1992 with the Allied Colloids incident.

"This is the biggest control room we have had since the Bradford City fire," he said.

The council has an emergency planning team of four people with each department in the council having its own emergency plan which can be put into action at any time.

Alan Mainwaring, director of transportation for the district, said road gulleys and becks away from the rivers are now often posing problems.

Gulleys designed to drain water from roads into nearby rivers are now having water forced back up them from the overflowing rivers, flooding the road.

Mr Mainwaring pointed out that the Bradford Beck - which until the late 1970s regularly caused major flooding in the city centre - has held firm thanks to a by-pass created in 1978 and 1979.

Council senior manager John Baker, who was staffing the control room yesterday, said there was a great deal of work to come, with the massive clear-up operation which will be necessary once the floods subside.

But in the short-term, the control room is remaining opening to deal with ongoing problems.

"Sunday is going to be an important day," said Mr Baker.

"There's a forecast for snow, two inches of rain and gale force winds."