DONT visit Cumbria this week.

Yes Shiney...bang on. Station road and its shops where closed off. Sainsburies still open. The second shot is from down the side of Wilkinsons, looking through the arch onto main street...water level had dropped by around 4 feet when I took this shot. The third is taken from just above Broughton Bridge, on the broughton side of the river...3 miles downstream of Cockermouth, and two miles downstream of the flooded sewage works. Can you believe that when I took this shot a man walked in front of me and was plucking unopened cans of beer from the detritus..even when I warned him against it as a health hazard.

Oh...and the bridge itself is closed now as the pointing has been washed away and its said the old stone bridge (1835) now has movement. Now the pointing has gone the water can eat into the lime mortar easily.

Steve...

 

Hard to imagine we were walking along those streets in September.

Steve how did Wordsworth fare was it affected by the water in any way?We saw a distant shot of it on the news but couldn't tell whether there was any water round it.

I do feel sorry for all those poor shop keepers who have had their lives ruined by this tragedy.:(

When I saw it on the weather forecast with that cloud hanging over it,it so reminded me of Boscastle that had exactly the same thing happen to it the other July.

 

Dreadful scenario for all concerned ,takes me back to the Carlisle flooding in 2005 .
The emergency services & all involved are a credit to the area . Heartfelt sympathies to the family of the late PC Bill Barker who died in his line of duty ,a true hero .
Not good in this area but no way on the scale of Cockermouth.

 

6 Bridges now washed away and 12 more closed along with many roads too. Although some shops in Cockermouth remain open for business we face a 90 mile round trip to do shopping (used to be 5 miles round trip) . Calva bridge in Workington is in imminant danger of collapse, the road over it has dropped a foot and is now twisting.

Full major closures below, although others are impassable. Please be cauious of walking in flood water as some road surfaces are washed away under the floodwater and some manhole covers have also been washed off/away.

West Cumbria
A597 Northside Bridge, Workington
A596 Workington Bridge
A595 Holmrook
A591 Bothel-Keswick
A591 Keswick - Thirlmere
A594 Gote Rd, Cockermouth
A595 Egremont Bridge
B5289 Cockermouth to Lorton
B5289 Keswick to Borrowdale
B5291 Ouse Bridge to Castle Inn
B5301 Arkleby Bridge
Low Road, Cockermouth
East Cumbria
A592 Snuff Mill to Waterfoot Jtn
A592 Glenridding (A5091 Aira Force Jtn)
B5322 St Johns in the Vale
South Cumbria
A592 Newby Bridge
A592/A593 Ambleside/Coniston area
A5074 Thornbarrow area, Windermere
Other roads passable with care:
A6 Eamont Bridge
A5091 Matterdale End
B6263 Warwick Bridge to Wetheral
B6263 Wetheral - Cumwhinton
A6 Milnthorpe

Bridge closures:
Northside Bridge, Workington, down
Northside Footbridge, Workington, down
Lorton, near Cockermouth, down
Newlands Beck Bridge, up stream of Braithwaite near Keswick, down
Camerton Footbridge, which links Great Clifton with Camerton, down
Suspension footbridge over River Eamont near Dalemain, Penrith, down
Calva Bridge, Workington, closed
Bridge on road leading from A66 to Great Broughton, closed
Papcastle Bridge on A595 near Cockermouth, closed
Goat Bridge, Cockermouth, closed
Footbridge at Croft Terrace/South Street, Cockermouth, closed
Isel Bridge, near Cockermouth, closed

Steve

 

Wow... What else can one say.. I do think its time it was annouced as a national disaster and also time to move the military in big style.
I predict theres going to be an awful lot of unhappy folk in a day or two who are going to find it very tough to survive an acceptable life style.
Im sure the army can have bridges across those rivers in a matter of days. They are essential.
The air force has Helicoptors to transport urgent supplies to those in need.
Come on Gordon... pull your finger out and lets see what this country can really do when the chips are down.
The world is watching.
Its the least we can do for you good folk in Cumbria.
Rant over... thanks for listerning.

 

It would be interesting to see if an appeal is set up to help all those that have lost practically everything.When there are disasters round the world Blighty is alway one the first countries to send out aid to help the victims,so we need a number or a genuine link where we can donate some money to help out albeit in a small way.

I seem to have heard somewhere on the news last Friday I think it was that Gordon Brown has pledged £1,000,000 towards rebuilding,but not sure if that was just the bridges or the actual town centre of Cockermouth.

We had an email from the National Trust for us to send money to them because of Wordsworths house but as they already have plenty I would rather mine and Mr Kandy's money go towards helping out those people most affected.

When Boscastle was hit we made a point of going there the following summer to visit the area and to give much needed money to keep their economy going as many people had stayed away thinking the area hadn't been rebuilt.

 

Yes.. the PM pledged 1 million, but I reckon the cost so far has gone way beyond that.
Its time for Gordon to move some gold around and give generously as the population of this country of ours does on many ocassions in the past.

 

Sometimes it is difficult to imagine the devastation if you haven't seen it first hand.

I remember a few years ago (2005?) when much of South Yorkshire was under water. I was at work the day it flooded. I remember reading about flooding on the BBC news website, and just kind of thought it was unlucky and then continued with my work.

At home time I walked to my car and set off to drive home. I was annoyed because the road I needed was closed. I remember thinking "closed because of a bit of rain, what is the nation coming to". I set off to take an alternative route. Basically my work is on one side of the valley and home on the other, about 2 miles apart. At every point where I tried a road that I knew crossed the river, I met a police road block and was turned around. At one point I found a lesser known side road that had coppers near it, but it wasn't blocked, so I took it. About half a mile down the road I encountered a very wide raging torrent crossing the road. I turned around and continued my search for another route across.

I eventually found my way across, by travelling several junctions up the motorway and coming back in from the north. As I passed through Chapeltown the severity of the situation hit me for the first time, and I don't mind confessing that the scene nearly brought tears to my eyes for the poor people that lived there. The road I was on was slightly higher than the side streets to either side, so I was ok, but as I slowly drove past I saw someone's front garden was just gone. The subsoil was exposed. I saw garden walls bulging ready to collapse, and water up to people's windows. The whole scene for the rest of the journey as I passed through Chapeltown and Grenoside was made all the more eerie by the fact that much of the electricity was out. Street lights were off, as were traffic lights, and no lights from people's windows. There was destruction everywhere I looked. It felt like I was in a war zone.

Whenever I was stuck in traffic on my five hour journey (a journey that should have been 15 minutes) I'd phone my wife. I couldn't understand why she was sounding so worried about me. I was ok. At several points I heard my phone go but couldn't answer it as I was driving. It went off again just as I finally pulled up outside my house and it was a mate, who'd seen on the news a request for everyone to make sure they could contact people in the Sheffield area, and if they couldn't, to pass on the mobile phone number to a rescue team or something. My mate was just about to pass on my number when he finally got hold of me.

Watching the news when I got in, I realised why my wife had been so worried. It seems the devastation that I saw first hand, as horrible as it was, was nothing compared to what had happened on the roads that the police had blocked off. At the beginning of my little story I mentioned being annoyed because the road I wanted was closed, I saw that road on the news. Many of you will have seen it. It was the one that featured the traffic lights theatrically floating away.

By the next day, most of the water had subsided, leaving a horrible muddy mess. I saw some poor soul's car, completed covered in mud.

Lucky for me, our house is near the top of the valley so the only trouble for us was that our electric was off all day because the sheer force of the rain had got in and shorted out a wall socket, but for thousands of others there was just devastation.

Having seen flooding and its effects first hand, I can really sympathise with the poor folks up in Cumbria right now.

 

Its events like that in your life you do not forget..
One the great Yorkshire floods found me stuck by myself at a huge water treatment works by myself overnight with nothing but a railway embankment between me and 18 foot of water with instructions... If it goes you must do this and that before heading for high ground.
Problem was the only high ground was the roof of the main pump house!
At the time I did`nt think much of the dangers but as the night wore on you get to thinking...
Im here to tell the tale thankfully.

 

I think Pal is one here who does know what it is like, although I'm sure he would rather forget it, the misery,disruption and mess. I feel for anyone who has to go through such a traumatic time.

 

Just an update if your visiting or plan to visit Cumbria soon.

ROAD CLOSURES:
Allerdale:
C2008 Toll Bar to Dearham
U2218 Catbells, Nr Keswick
B5301 Arkleby Road, Aspatria
B5292 & C2064 Main Street and Cocker Bridge Cockermouth
Carlisle:
C1013 Newby Bridge Newby East
C1027 Holme Eden Church
B6263 Warwick Bridge to Wetheral
Copeland:
U4440 Wagon Way, Whitehaven
Eden:
U3151 Moss Rigg, Newbiggin, Stainton
A592 Waterfoot Corner to Aira Force Junction
C3036 A66 to Hutton John
South Lakeland:
U5014 Tarns Hows to Boon Crag

BRIDGE CLOSURES:
Allerdale:
U2190 Low Lorton Bridge (collapsed)
A5086 Gote Road Cockermouth
A597 Northside Bridge (collapsed)
B5291 Ouse Bridge to Castle Inn
C2170 Broughton Bridge
C2202 C2202 Southwaite Bridge
U2217 Little Braithwaite Bridge (collapsed)
C2026 Isel Bridge
A596 Workington Bridge Calva Bridge
U2309 Station Road (access to swimming pool) Keswick
C2064 Cocker Bridge ,Cockermouth
C2830 Scalehill Bridge
A5271 Greta Bridge, Keswick
U2181 Scarness Bridge
U2011 Studholme Bridge
Copeland:
C4005 Bridge End, Egremont
A595 Holmrook Bridge
C4017 Wath Bridge, Wath Brow, Cleator Moor
C4004 Butt Bridge, Ennerdale
South Lakeland:
U5082 Water Yeat Bouthrey Bridge
C5049 Backbarrow off A590

FOOTBRIDGE CLOSURES:
Allerdale:
Camerton (collapsed)
Navvies Footbridge Workington (collapsed)
Portinscale Footbridge Memorial Gardens Footbridge, Cockermouth (collapsed)
Memorial Gardens Footbridge
South Street/Kirkgate Footbridge, Cockermouth
Workington Docks Old Railway Footbridge Brewery Footbridge, Cockermouth
Brewery Footbridge, Cockermouth
Copeland:
Black Bridgefootpath, Egremont

Steve...