The government have placed over 30 red flood warnings across Leeds where flooding is expected to be a problem, and a further 12 amber flood warnings where flooding is possible.
The River Aire, River Calder, River Wharfe and Batley Beck and their surrounding areas that are expected to be most affected by the extreme weather.
For those travelling today, the advice is generally to stay put where you can and avoid flood waters.
Image: West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
Leeds City Council has shared tweets this morning that state the Tinley Viaduct is closed in both directions to high sided and vulnerable vehicles and another from the Northern Rail Service, which states that there will be no trains between Leeds and Manchester Victoria due to railway flooding.
The tweet also states "No replacement buses on the stopping services due to flooding" before asking people "DO NOT TRAVEL" in capital letters to emphaise the importance of the message.
Meanwhile Leeds City Station have advised passengers to check their routes and be prepared to "not travel".
⚠️ #StormFranklin has caused major flooding across parts of South and West Yorkshire over the past 36 hours
🌧️Some routes are closed this morning so please check your journey, and be prepared that you may not be able to travel
The West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has stated online that they're receiving reports from people attempting to drive through flood water.
The rescue service is asking people to not ignore road closures or drive through any flood water during this time. Reports of flooding can be made to local authority or flooded roads to National Highways on 0300 123 5000, but the fire and rescue teams can only attend if "incidents that pose significant danger or endanger the life of members of the public".
Image: West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
Similarly, West Yorkshire Police are advertising a similar message after they received reports of drivers trying to drive through flood waters over 3ft tall.
Storms Dudley and Eunice made the front pages this week after storming through the UK and leaving a trail of destruction behind. So far, this has included the falling of trees, flying wheelie bins and flood warnings around much of the UK.
Leeds has had its fair share of extreme weather over the past few days, but it appears the weather warnings will be lifted tomorrow once Storm Franklin leaves the area.
To find out if your area in Leeds is expected to be affected by these unanticipated weather conditions, you can visit the UK Government website.
Feature Image- West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
News
Leeds band Yard Act announce 2026 UK tour including homecoming gig
Yard Act are back as they announce first round of UK headline dates since 2024.
We are so, so back.
It's been a few years, but Yard Act have just announced a small selection of UK gigs for later in the year including a homecoming gig at the O2 Academy on Friday 6 November.
The dates follow the band’s first show of the year at the 6Music Festival this Friday across The Pennines in Manchester.
After Leeds, the lads will be performing shows at the O2 Victoria Warehouse on Friday 13 November before making their way down south to the O2 Academy in Brixton on Thursday 26 November.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Yard Act completed the touring for their critically acclaimed second album Where’s My Utopia? with a victory lap back home at the 5000 capacity Millennium Square in Leeds in August 2024.
It was a record that brought a stark change of pace to the acerbic, post-punk of their debut, embracing something altogether more playful and bringing a different energy. It shifted the dynamic on stage too, with the addition of dancing backing singers and additional musicians and openly challenged listeners to reconsider who they thought Yard Act were.
Since then, the band have remained active, whether writing Where’s My Utopia’s follow-up on scratching the itch to get back on stage, heading out across the UK and Europe with The Hives, which was preceded by an intimate one-off show at Blackpool Tower last May.
Following a lengthy stint in the studio, the band now look to the Autumn for three big UK dates and we cannot wait.
Tickets go on artist presale from 10am on Wednesday 25 March before hitting general sale at 10am on Friday 27 March. Sign up here.
Estimated to be worth around £45 million, the Grade II-listed structure renovations won't begin for a little while just yet, but it is set to increase the capacity of the space by more than 50%.
Announced on Tuesday, 24 March, the major refurb will be partly funded by public money and topped up by the private sector and "philanthropic partners".
The UK government and Sheffield City Council will be pumping in approximately £35m, with a further £10m being added through the investment mentioned above.
Soon to allow the theatre to scale up or down in size, the hope is that the new 'in the round' format will enable the Crucible to serve its arts and sporting audiences for decades to come, as well as opening the big Northern stage up to new opportunities.
Due to start in the summer of 2028, it's still unclear as to the exact completion date, but the plans are in support of confirmation that the annual snooker tournament will stay put.
A fresh agreement with the WSC will see them stay in Sheff until at least 2045, with the Crucible's number of seats set to jump from just under 1,000 to 1,480.
It's also said there is an option in the deal to extend the contract until 2050, and as one of the biggest competitive events that comes to the city year in and year out, you would expect them to push hard for the Council and partners to push hard for this, too.
Credit: Bread and Butter PR (supplied)
Dan Walker, Chair of Sheffield Theatres Trust, said in a statement: "The Crucible is a wonderful theatre with a brilliant reputation, and the positive impact of this investment will be seen for years to come.
"As a proud resident of Sheffield, I know the importance of snooker to our city, but this isn’t only good news for Sheffield: this is amazing news for the north of England and the whole of the UK."
If all goes to plan, the overhaul should take around 18 months, with productions being hosted in the Lyceium and the newest room, the Montgomery.
All the while, the Sheffield Theatres will continue to present new work both domestically and around the globe over this period, with more details coming this autumn 2026.
Sophie Smith -
21st February 2022 
