Bed and Breakfast Lake District

COCKERMOUTH, England — Military helicopters winched dozens of people to safety and emergency workers in inflatable boats rescued scores more as floods on Friday swamped northern England’s picturesque Lake District. One police officer died after a bridge was swept away by the surging waters.

British soldiers conducted house-to-house searches for those trapped by floods as deep as 8 feet (2.5 meters). Troops also dropped down on lines from air force helicopters, breaking through rooftops to pluck people to safety.

Emergency services said more than 200 people were rescued in the hardest-hit town, Cockermouth. At least 960 homes were flooded after a day of unprecedented rain, police in the northern region of Cumbria said.

Cockermouth, a market town 330 miles (530 kilometres) northwest of London, lies at the junction of the Cocker and Derwent rivers and is known for being the birthplace of poet William Wordsworth.

“It has devastated the town,” said Michael Dunn, manager of the Bitter End pub in Cockermouth. “There is a lot of properties in Main Street, private shops, that have had their windows smashed in by the force of the water and by debris in the water.

“There were cars floating down the street. It will be a long time before Cockermouth recovers from this.”

The rain stopped and floodwaters began to ease Friday, giving rescuers a chance to reach trapped people by boat. Debris swirled around the boats as they pulled people to safety.

Forecasters said the rainfall was unprecedented. The Environment Agency recorded 12.3 inches (314.4 millimetre) of rain in 24 hours in one spot — one of the wettest days ever recorded in England.

“It looks like a very historical event,” said Julian Mayes, a forecaster with MeteoGroup UK.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn told the BBC that flood defences were meant to withstand a one-in-100-years flood — but could not cope with the volume of water.

“What we dealt with last night was probably more like one-in-a-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,” Benn said.

Police urged people not to travel, as many roads were impassable. Two bridges collapsed in the town of Workington, including a main one over the River Derwent. Cumbria Police said Constable Bill Barker, 44, died after he was knocked into the water when the structure gave way.

“This is a stone bridge — to wash away a bridge of that size and dimension is incredible,” said lawmaker Tony Cunningham.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown that he had spoken to Cumbria Chief Constable Craig Mackey to offer help.

“Our thoughts are with all those who have been impacted by these floods,” Brown said.

There have been some concerns about what result the floods will have on tourism in the Lake District. It is thought that certain places, such as Cockermouth, will take some time to recover, and that tourists may not return to the area for some time. However, these floods should not discourage people from visiting or holidaying in the Lake District. Many bed and breakfasts are still open for business, and there is no reason why they should feel a backlash of the devastation caused by this record rainfall. Much of the Lake District is as safe and picturesque as ever, and people should not miss out because of the floods.

We accredit The Associated Press for the inspiration for this article.

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