AS flood warnings and defences are very much in the news at the moment these pictures show the chaos caused by heavy downpours and a freak storm in the 1950s and 1960s.

On the left hand page we can see the scenes after a particularly heavy downpour in Guiseley in 1954 as vehicles battled their way along roads that could easily have been mistaken for rivers.

On August 21 Otley Road in Guiseley looked more like a river than a busy route through the centre of the town.

In one image a lorry can be seen heading towards Leeds on the badly flooded road. The picture below that captures a number 55 bus ploughing on despite the horrendous conditions as it made its way towards Bradford.

The shot also shows a number of MAP (Ministry of Aircraft Production) homes. The pre-fabricated houses were designed to house workers at the Yeadon Avro factory which produced aircraft during the Second World War. The factory, which was built in 1939 alongside what is now the Leeds-Bradford Airport, was the largest single factory unit in Europe at the time. It produced Lancaster bombers which were to be used in the legendary “Dambuster” raids.

In the top right image a car appears to be stranded on Otley Road.

The right hand page shows the aftermath of a freak storm in Yeadon in July 1968. The dramatic event was widely felt in Aireborough and left the area looking like a mid-winter snow scene.

Many local people still have vivid memories of that day on July 2 when flood water swept through the area and hailstones lay 3ft deep on the ground.

It was reported that a woman needed medical treatment after being swept down The Steep, in Yeadon, by flood water.

All the photographs come from Aireborough Historical Society. Describing the scenes in 2014 Archivist Carlo Harrison said: “I was working at Peates Mill at the time and remember the sky going black literally like night time and the yarn store which was below ground level filled with water in minutes, a lucky escape for the three men who worked in there.”

Another eye-witness remembered drain covers popping like corks on columns of water 2ft high, adding: “Walking down Cemetery Road, I was amazed at the number of birds that lay dead in the gutter. They had literally been hailstoned out of the trees.”

The storm blocked Kirk Lane and cars were abandoned as the hailstones froze together to form an inpenetrable mass.

As Yeadon was left under a thick layer of ice people set to work to dig our their stranded vehicles. A newspaper cutting from the Wharfedale Observer showed a group of boys doing their best to clear hailstones.

The paper reported:"In a scene more reminiscent of mid-winter than high summer, youngsters lent a hand at clearing the 3ft deep 'glacier' of hailstones which blocked Kirk Lane at Yeadon during the freak storm last week. Cars and vans were left abandoned as hailstones froze into an impassable barrier as high as the wheel arches of vehicles."

After the hailstorm water swept down Kirk Lane bringing more chaos in its wake.

One photograph shows a number 50 bus en route to Otley - followed by a long line of cars - as it made its way through the deep water. In the shot we can see a stone building with an apex roof, which was once the Church of England School, and which fronted onto Henshaw Lane. The large flat roofed building is now the premises of Opticaid UK. Another picture shows a lone car outside the North Eastern Gas Board Showroom.