The 'biblical' deluge that broke all the records
Tributes are paid to PC Bill Barker, who died when a flooded river caused a bridge to collapse
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Independent Minds
Cumbria Constabulary via Getty Images
Pc Bill Barker who was swept away and died during the Cumbrian floods.
In pictures: How flooding hit Cumbria
Emergency services were today readying themselves for more heavy rain after England's wettest day on record claimed the life of a "heroic" policeman and left thousands of others counting the cost of flooded homes and businesses.
The extreme rainfall that swamped northern England with devastating floods, sweeping away bridges, making hundreds homeless and killing a policeman, was the heaviest ever recorded in Britain in a 24-hour period.
More than a foot of rain – 12.3in – fell on to the Lake District in 24 hours, breaking the previous record set in a summer thunderstorm in July 1955, when 11in were recorded in Martinstown, Dorset, the Environment Agency said.
The new record – 314.4mm – was recorded at the Environment Agency gauge at the hamlet of Seathwaite in Borrowdale, near the head of the River Derwent. The unparalleled volume of water, running off already saturated ground, turned the Derwent into an unstoppable torrent which devastated the towns in its path, Cockermouth and Workington – collapsing a stone bridge on Workington's outskirts and killing PC Bill Barker, who was guiding people away from it.
The downpour was caused by a wet, warm air system blown across the Atlantic, which sat over Cumbria for 24 hours and brought the equivalent of nearly two months' rain in a single day. Although its intensity cannot on its own be ascribed to climate change, it is consistent with predictions of what a warmer world will mean for Britain.
The unprecedented nature of the rainfall was emphasised yesterday by the Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, who said it was probably a "one-in-a-1,000-years event". And there were warnings that more rain, albeit not of the same severity, was expected in today.
West Cumbria, particularly Cockermouth, bore the brunt of the devastation. Four bridges collapsed, main roads were blocked, 39 schools were closed and more than 200 people were forced to leave their homes.
Water levels rose to almost 8ft on the worst-affected streets, and fire crews had to pump water out of homes. The weather was so severe that lifeboats deployed to rescue people had to turn back. More than 1,200 people were left without electricity.
In Workington, PC Bill Barker fell victim to the ferocity of the weather. The 44-year-old was attempting to protect people trying to cross Northside bridge when the swollen river washed the structure away. His body was found yesterday afternoon washed up on a beach at Allonby, 10 miles north of Workington.
PC Barker, a family liaison officer who had served with Cumbria Police for 25 years, would have been 45 today. He leaves a wife and four children. His wife, Hazel, said: "How do you put into words how you feel about somebody you are so proud of?
"Bill was my best friend, my forever friend, and an amazing dad. I have the comfort of knowing that Bill died doing the job he loved, and the fact that he was helping others is typical Bill."
The Prime Minister, the Home Secretary Alan Johnson and the Conservative leader David Cameron also paid tribute to PC Barker. The Chief Constable of Cumbria Police Craig Mackey said: "Bill is a hero who died saving the lives of others and our thoughts are with his family at this devastating time. He was a much-loved friend, colleague and an inspiration to everyone he knew."
The floods were even worse than those that engulfed Cumbria in 2005.
Gordon Brown said that he had assured Mr Mackey that any help he needed would be provided. "Our thoughts are with all those who have been impacted by these floods and our thanks go out to the emergency services who continue their extraordinary efforts to help the people affected," he said.
The Prime Minister said that he had been in contact with the Environment Secretary Hilary Benn who was in Cumbria to assess the situation. Mr Benn, in Cockermouth, said that even defences built after the floods of 2005 to withstand a "one-in-100-years flood" could not cope. "What we dealt with was probably more like one-in-1,000, so even the very best defences, if you have such quantities of rain in such a short space of time, can be over-topped," he said.
He warned that, while the flood waters were beginning to go down, more rain was forecast. "It is very important that people listen out for warnings, follow the advice that they are given, and look out for elderly neighbours or relatives," he added. Last night 34 flood warnings, four of them severe, were in place in Cumbria. A further 11 were in place in the North-east and the Midlands.
Workington's MP Tony Cunningham said the flood was "of biblical proportions" and added: "The scale and the force of the devastation in Cockermouth is huge." Pete Marston, who lives in Cockermouth, added: "It's going to take the town years to recover from this."
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Comments
The humans lost the fight last night with nature.
These events happened at the time of spring tides and was due to the jet stream alignment with the country. Generally we have low pressure that pass further north and their fronts travel through the county. Unless unusual circumstances occur, the front does not stop. However, because the jet stream is over us we are seeing the interface of the warm and cold air masses. While it is unperturbed by the formation of lows it just sits over the same area. So we alternate between high winds during the lows and high rain in certain places during the gaps.
Since the jet stream can basically be anywhere between Gibraltar and Iceland some one has to get it. It is just the Lake Districts turn this time. I think it is fair to say Scotland has this weather far more often without complaint.
However, have we made it worse by building dams? This means we reduce the occurrence of flood events by careful management of the reservoirs. All is wonderful. Except that with no minor flood events, the river silts up and trees grow on the islands. Nothing clears the vegetation from the side arches of the bridges and they become park land. The river is culverted more and more and developments occur in the flood plane. But because the minor flood events do not occur these areas do not "look" like they belong to our rivers.
Then when a sustained rain event does happen the river can not flow properly. The reservoirs become full and there is no more ability to regulate the river. Since it is now heavily blocked the event becomes "historic" and people die. So in our aim to stop floods we actually make floods worse. The severity has nothing to do with the weather!
It is all down to the 1 in 100 statistic. As long as the development fits in that statistic it is OK. But the consequences of the development for the bigger events is magnified. The bigger events then start to kill and destroy instead or just soaking the land.
So basically it is a subset humans that are at fault, but they are called civil engineers.
PS Who allowed that port to choke the river that much! The catchment area is about 1/6 of the Lake District and it is all supposed to go out through that small culvert. Someone should be in prison for this.
In fact you do not need a real dam to cause the problem. How about a restriction? Like a bridge and a raised road. In all normal events the river outlet flow is regulated and the lake height increases in the storms. More arrives than can leave.
However, if it was to continue to rise, the river would suddenly flow over the road and the step increase in river flow would be too much for the down stream structures.
A normal river has a terracing effect to the banks and there is no real step change. Just putting a road and a bridge across is enough to limit the river and by working only from recorded flows down stream you would get a false impression of the actual river flow rate once the obstructions were over flowed.
So the slow rate limited by the bridge width is not enough to unclog the river, but the full flow of all the catchment water is too much for the clogged river.
This occurred around Allendale many years ago when a bridge was overcome high up in the river.
And yes, engineers are a curse. Their infernal mindset that everything has an engineering solution is self-serving of course.
However, the core of the problem lies with the money-lenders, whose fractional reserve banking scam (with associated interest payements) can only function if there is perpetual growth, ii.e. continous conversion of natural, sustainable systems into unnatural, unsustainable systems.
Of course the whole scam is now starting to unravel as Peak Oil starts to bite and other esources become increasingly difficult to obtain.
The energy required to maintain the complex systems associated with so-called civilisation simply will not be available for much longer and nature will gradually rid herself of her worst problem via catastrophes associated with the climate change so many want to deny is happening,
A large sector of humanity has boxed itself into a corner from which ther eis no escape via the 'progress trap'.
These are very interesting times, since we will witness the great unravelling.
You are right on one point though. Bush did not demolish the Twin Towers: it was undoubtedly done by professionals via US military or the CIA, without the FBI being let in on the plans, hence the great row between the CIA and the FBI dshortly afer the demolition was done and the double insurance claim made (that really was a clever move by the owner of the buildings).
Stay in the Matrix and suffer the consequences: the system requires lots of victims and the more who volunteer to perish [by remaining uninformed], the more room there will be for others after the die-off.
Only in labours Britain.
do you think you can dredge a river like that? and to the extent it will prevent floodind?
The river used to be dredged regulary in the past to help reduce the flooding. They needed to dredge it by 10 ft to reach the old level. So as i say they put fish before people as that was the reason they did not do it.
The salmon will recover quicker than Cockermouth.
taw1992, Word of warning, you have to be very careful what you say to kodak, you might end being accused of being a foreign agent- especially as you live in Singapore ! - and of hating the UK, or worse.
That happened to me yesterday. Best left alone...
Condolences and respect to Bill Barker and all the emergency services, I hope everyone manages to recover soon from this dreadful event.
I watched a man on television blaming the government last night. Why didn't they do something he said, well they have and they do. The Lake District infrastructure and the emergency services are some of the best in the world and that is why more houses and people, unlike in the third world were spared death and destruction.
When the weather is fine we grumble about regulation and taxes and roadworks. When the weather is bad we blame the government for not stopping this and that and not doing more.
We pick our views according to what suits us and don't like the consequences. Well most experts predict global climate change (just read New Scientist or Scientific American). Along with a growing population and pollution we will suffer changing weather and resource shortages. It stands to sense, if all the Chinese aspire to the same level of wealth we enjoy then things will change. If everyone in India aspired to visit Paris, then Paris wouldn't feel like Paris anymore, and why shouldn't they? There are practical limits to consumption and driving alone in two ton vehicles capable of 120mph down to the shops to pick up a newspaper is being exposed as the nonsense it always was.
However Green lobbyists don't do themselves any favours, light cars can be green, who wouldn't like a house so insulated you didn't need to have heating bills. What's not to like about working from home or travelling on 250mph trains to the South of France?
Business lunchbreaks in Amsterdam or Venice or frequent weekend trips to Dubai were never going to be viable in the long run even if they were desirable in the first place!!