The last week has seen some of the more catastrophic events for years in the north of England and
Ireland. Torrential rain falling onto already sodden land, and driven by gale force winds, meant that river levels rose rapidly, low lying areas were quickly overcome by water, whilst multi-million pound flood defences in those places which had suffered previous flooding held back the waters a little but eventually submitted to the onslaught of the sheer volume of water.
Record rainfalls levels were recorded across the county, and a major incident was declared,
A new record for the amount of rain in a 24-hour period was created at the weekend with 341.4mm recorded at Honister Pass, in Cumbria, the Met Office has confirmed.
The north-west of England is well-used to rain, but rain on this level is unprecedented even here. We have seen towns and village street flooded, some up to the top of their doorways so the only escape was via upstairs windows, Lake levels have risen by several metres, engulfing many domestic and commercial waterside properties and washing away jetties. Roads have been undermined by the water, leading to sinkholes, collapses and landslides, and bridges have been either washed away or damaged so badly that they will need extensive checks and repairs before they may be used again.
This
BBC news story tells the story of this week's floods in Carlisle so well. I can't begin to imagine what the 8 metre depth of river looks like! And I can't comprehend the West Coast main line being under 2.5 metres of water!
There is no mention in the previous link of all the other towns and villages affected, Carlisle had the visit from PM David Cameron as that is where the majority of flooded properties were recorded. But you could substitute Kendal, Cockermouth, Keswick, Workington, Appleby, Glenridding, Grasmere, Bowness, Lancaster or a host of other places for Carlisle and the story would still be the same. Lives turned upside down by the floods, as
this link from the Guardian shows:
Cumbria, a county with an area more than four times that of Greater London, was deluged along with much of Ireland, parts of north Lancashire, the north east, and the Scottish borders, and it will takes hundreds of millions of pounds and months, maybe years, of repairs to put everything right and recover from the damage.
Without the tireless assistance and efforts of the emergency services (
Police,
Fire and Rescue,
Coastguard,
Ambulance) in Cumbria and a host of volunteers from organisations such as the
mountain rescue groups, the
RNLI, the
Bay Search and Rescue, the situation would have been so much worse - no doubt the same is true of other areas affected. The emergency services that have been pared back due to Government funding cuts did their utmost to ensure the safety of people affected by the floods. It's a testament to the efforts of everyone involved there there was only one reported death due to the flooding in Cumbria. The situation has been so dire that the
Army were sent in to help with mass evacuations and transporting hospital patients to safety, and have been involved in helping assess damage to roads and bridges.
Meanwhile, the emotional damage caused by the frightening events, and the trauma that individuals and families that families endured and are still enduring, will probably last even longer.
To help the communities affected get back on their feet,
a £3million appeal has been launched by the Cumbria Community Foundation, and donations towards this are warmly welcomed.
