River Ure rescue: Woman and girls winched to safety
A mother and her two children have been rescued from a swollen river by helicopter.
The three had been on an island in the River Ure in Hackfall Woods, near Ripon in North Yorkshire.
A fire service spokesman said the level of the river rose quickly and caught them out at about 14:30 BST.
Firefighters set up safety lines across the river before calling in an RAF Sea King helicopter from RAF Leconfield near Beverley in East Yorkshire.
The spokesman said the woman and two girls were clinging to a tree before they were winched to safety.
He said: "All the emergency services worked in conjunction with the RAF to ensure the incident was a success, it could however have been a different story and should act as a warning to the dangers of rising river levels following a period of prolonged and heavy rainfall.
"[North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service] would like to remind the public that whilst the river may look benign it can quickly change; in this instance the preceding rainfall from the night before caused a rapid rise in the river level in a very short period of time."