A FLASH flood washed away a unique Dales bridge which was currently undergoing a facelift.

The unusual bridge, situated over the river Skirfare at Hawkswick, was washed away by the force of a flash flood caused by the heavy rainfall on Tuesday night.

Susan Mitton, who lives at Hazel Head Farm near the bridge and is chairman of the parish meeting, said residents were very fond of the bridge.

She said: "The bridge is now stuck down the river. While it was being refurbished, the bridge was held up by scaffolding. At first we thought it was just the scaffolding which had been washed away but then we saw the bridge as well.

"We live right next to the bridge and never heard a thing. Luckily no damage was done to anything else."

She added: " We just hope the bridge will be back up again. It's quite frightening when you think what the rain can actually do."

The 25 metre single span bridge carries a footpath over the Skirfare and was falling into disrepair.

A scheme to refurbish the bridge was drawn up by the national park, which included the bridge's timber decking being removed and the remaining structure being grit-blasted before being repainted.

A national park spokesman said: "This is very sad news. Our first priority is to assess the situation and look at how to recover it from the river. We're getting crane experts out there to have a look."

He added it looked as though the bridge was all in one piece and it was hoped the original structure could be recovered.

"Ultimately, we have been caught out by a flash flood with the river rising very quickly. It's a shame as we were very close to completion."

Elsewhere heavy rain flooded roads in the Carleton, Burnsall and Cracoe areas.