Cumbrian Flood Man Returns

[2345876]

Hello guys,

As you may have noticed I have not been around since Thursday night, I would like to apologise and take this time to have some reflection on what has gone on the last 6 days.

As many will know I live in Cumbria. A place of beauty and tranquillity. I live just between Cockermouth and Workington. So that is Cumbria, Cockermouth and Workington all in the same paragraph - what links all of these (usually) lovely places together? The floods.

It all began on Thursday night, an unprecedented amount of rainfall fell between 11pm and the following few days which resulted in utterly catastrophic consequences. The River Cocker and the River Derwent swelt and burst it banks.

The Main Street of Cockermouth became everybody's worst nightmare. The water quickly rose to around 4 feet in places, and caused devastation. Over the next couple of days the water continued to rise and got to 9 feet in areas.

I really don't need to tell you anymore as, quiet simply you should all know the true horrors behind this event already. I am going to move on to why I have been affected.

From Thursday through to this morning I have had no phone line or internet access, and since Sunday night I have had no electricity in the house. Luckily our house was unharmed by the flood waters, until Saturday night when there was constant heavy rain. Luckily all that was affected was our cellar which has a small 2 inches of water in, nothing much has been harmed!

Some more bad news came in the shape of the 8 bridges which have collapsed in the immediate area. One of which, the main artery into Workington, saw the death of the brave policeman who lost his life to save others. My heart goes out to the family of PC Bill Barker. From Thursday to Sunday every village and town around Cockermouth and Workington were practically stranded on their own islands, no communication links were available as such. Resulting from this was a huge food shortage, small local shops soon ran out of the usual everyday products such as milk and bread and no deliveries were able to come through.

That is all for now as I am sure you don't need to know the rest of the ramblings as you are all probably aware of the situation.

I have missed eXceem over the last few days and will get back to my freebie posting as soon as possible!

Take care everyone.

[Cruelworld]

Hope you all get back to some sort of normality soon and everything works out up there.

I know all our deliveries are suspended for the immediate future but I suspect it won't be too long.
I deliver building materials.

**Edit**
I just re-read that and it sounds kinda like i'm being flippant or something but i'm not, I sincerely hope it all works out ok for you.
Just my choice of wording may not be read the way it was intended :S

[ndev2k]

That is really bad news. I have been following it on the TV and newspapers and it is terrible what has happened.

I hope it all gets back to normal for you and your townsfolk as quickly as possible.

[2345876]

Thank you both. It is going to take a long time for things to get back to normal, but the community spirit is always sky high so we will all pull through!

[Larkino]

I've also been following it on the news and it seems unreal. Hope you and your family are ok and get things back to normal.

[TheDoctor]

I saw it on the news and i was shocked.
How many bridges was it that collapsed?
Anyway, hope you werent affected too badly and things get back to normal soon.


edit: 8 bridges

[2345876]

Latest as of 11:30am today with regards to bridge and road closures:

Bridge Closure:

Allerdale

U2190 - Low Lorton Bridge

A5086 - Gote Road Cockermouth

A597 - Northside Bridge

B5291 - Ouse Bridge to Castle Inn

C2170 - Broughton Bridge

C2202 - Southwaite Bridge

U2217 - Little Braithwaite Bridge

C2026 - Isel Bridge

A596 - Workington Bridge Calva Bridge

U2309 - Station Road (access to swimming pool) Keswick

C2064 - Cocker Bridge, Cockermouth

C2830 - Scalehill Bridge

U2181 - Scarness Bridge

A5271 - Greta Bridge, Keswick

Copeland

C4005 - Bridge End, Egremont

A595 - Holmrook Bridge

C4017 - Wath Bridge, Wath Brow, Cleator Moor

South Lakeland

U5082 - Water Yeat Bouthrey Bridge

C5049 - Backbarrow off A590

C5023 - Spark Bridge



Footbridge closures:

Allerdale

Camerton

Navvies Footbridge Workington

Portinscale Footbridge

Memorial GardensFootbridge, Cockermouth

South Street/Kirkgate Footbridge, Cockermouth

Camerton Church Bridge(Bridleway)

Workington Docks Old Railway Footbridge

Brewery Footbridge, Cockermouth

Carlisle

Hardwicke Circus - Pedestrian



Road Closures:

Allerdale

U2449 - Market Place Workington

C2008 - Toll Bar to Dearham

U2218 - Catbells, Nr Keswick

Carlisle

U1081 - Newby East to Crosby

U1083 - Crosby Lodge

U1056 - Rockcliffe Village

Eden

B5320 - Pooley Bridge to Waterfoot Corner to Kirkstone Pass

C3036 - A66 to Hutton John

South Lakeland

U5014 - Tarns Hows to Boon Crag

A5075 - Borrons Road Ambleside

[-null-]

Sympathies to you and to those in Dumfries and Galloway who have been hit by the floods.

Nasty nasty thing

[digger600]

Hope your all okay and feel for everyone up there in Cumbria, we stayed there for a week in Pooley Bridge and then on to AMbleside and they've both either flooded or lost bridges now, good to hear your okay and as you said RIP PC Bill Barker

[2345876]

I have uploaded images from the flood, (See Thread Here)