[Mike Tyson]

I'm sure most of you will have seen the news but it really is a disaster up here in Cumbria. I was away for most of last week and was not here to see the carnage unfold, especially in Cockermouth and Workington.

Here are a few snaps to show the severity of things:

Cockermouth



Keswick

Bassenthwaite


I am absoultely gobsmacked by whats happened. I live just 4 miles from Workington where the bridge collapsed with the sad loss of a Police man, if I now want to get to Workington I have to drive all the way to Keswick on the A591 and then back across the A66! A near 50 mile round trip! The whole of Western Cumbria is paralysed, it is surreal. The bridge by the pencil museum where the climbing wall used to be in Kewick has been closed and is dangerously close to dissapearing, there are several more near Cockermouth that are close to going as well! The entire infrastucture is wrecked!!!!

At least St.Bees will be quiet for a while, thats if the boulders are still there! 

[GCW]

I'm gutted that an RS4 got fucked, and that there's gonna be a reduced number of pasties available in Cockermouth.

It is all a bit shit, though.  These things have happened before and not just in the Lakes.  I'm kinda glad we live on the top of a small hill.

[Mr Cat]

look on the brightside - they're both shitholes and will be able to get fixed up a bit

[Mike Tyson]

It is all a bit shit, though.  These things have happened before and not just in the Lakes.  I'm kinda glad we live on the top of a small hill.

I am kinda lucky I live by the coast, shouldnt be affected too much.

look on the brightside - they're both shitholes and will be able to get fixed up a bit

Pardon my French, but fuck you  Workington happens to be my home town you twat!!!

[Houdini]

I bet the paddlers are loving it!

[jon bassindale]

it's not been quite so bad over here in the south lakes but still pretty chaotic. I live five minutes walk from Ambleside, but for the last three days that has become a 30min drive via Grasmere. I got some pictures,  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonbassindale/     but i missed the full on scenes of thursday, these give you a taste http://www.amblesideonline.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1563

it's still raining, technically sleet right now, and while the rivers are dropping the lake is filling up.

[Johnny Brown]

they're both shitholes and will be able to get fixed up a bit

Taking this as a serious point, I haven't seen much evidence of major investment or subsequent regeneration in S Yorks/ Humberside since the floods 18 months back. Just some political grandstanding followed by a lot of folk with fucked lives. Many still aren't back in their houses.

[Jaspersharpe]

True enough.

Our offices got truly fucked in the last Sheffield flood. Took a while but we ended up getting a much nicer office to move back into. Suppose that just shows the difference in clout of a large property management company (the landlords of our place own a huge amount of commercial property) and individual householders, businesses etc. I'm just very thankful it was where I work that got screwed rather than where I live.

[coolbeans]

look on the brightside - they're both shitholes and will be able to get fixed up a bit

Theres a lot of banter on this forum but thats a little insensitive to many who live in the area.  For those who have severely damaged homes and belongings, insurance settlements will possibly be a long time coming (if ever), and with the magnitude of the infrastructure damage I can't think its going to be an overnight fix.  I read a report of a woman who had just completed renovations on her cafe in Kendal after the 2007 floods - she was due to open on Saturday and wham, flooded again. Poor lady.   

[tomtom]

Maybe its more the 'start of a new world' rather than end of the world - as I think that bigger floods and more 'unusual' weather is something we're going to see alot more of in the future. One of my present research projects is plugging the results of regional rainfall models (based on climate change scenario's) into hydrological models to see what size floods come out (and how much damage they do) and some of the results are frankly scary.

I've also been heavily involved with projects looking at the social impacts of the 2007 floods in Hull. Its easy to think that this is just bricks and mortar damage - you can re-build houses and most of those flooded should be insured (mostly in flood protected areas I think) - but the hard thing to 'cost' is the damage to people the worry it causes. Being turfed out of your house for 6-9 months (or more) is not usually a pleasant experience and causes all sorts of social and economic problems. Even if you have the best insurance company in the world theres still days if not weeks of f*cking about with builders, contractors, decorators etc... So best wishes to all the people involved - it can be a long haul.

T

ps Jon, Golt, OK if I use your pictures in lectures/classes etc..?

[k-stone]

As Jon said, it's not as severe as the north and west, but Ambleside was wet and got cut off for a day - unless you had a tractor or 4x4 to get through the floods.

Here's what the usual trickle of a waterfall above town looked like on Thursday:

[thustler]

I bet the paddlers are loving it!

Too right, still feel for the poor sods with flooded houses though.

[dave]

hold on tight up there cos it looks like there's another 4 inches heading your way. And I don't mean steve mcclure is going to the bowderstone.

[jon bassindale]

tomtom, sorry, i haven't looked in for a day or two, feel free to use any pics you want.

dave, yep it's not really stopped raining since thursday and it's hammering down now. the remarkable thing here is how the landscape  deals with the water. Langdale  looks like it's just had a wet couple of days.As a local farmer said when i asked if he'd been ok, ' no problem,we're used to floods round here' which is true, 2 or 3 times a year the known spots overflow. This time however the lake ( windermere) is really high, i wouldn't be surprised if the main road is closed again in the morning.