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Car seen plunging into River Kent in Kendal Bad weather halts search for car driver in River Kent in Kendal
(about 2 hours later)
A search and rescue operation is under way after a car reportedly plunged into a river in Kendal, Cumbria. Emergency services have scaled down a search for a man after a car reportedly plunged into a Cumbrian river.
Firefighters, police and rescue volunteers are searching both banks of the River Kent after the vehicle was apparently swept away. Cumbria Police said "difficult weather conditions" made it too dangerous to continue.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing a man clinging to the roof of the car after it went into the river at Aynam Road at about 15:50 GMT. The car is reported to have entered the River Kent in Kendal at 15:55 GMT with witnesses saying they saw an older man trying to climb out.
Cumbria Fire Service said poor weather conditions were hampering the search. A coastguard helicopter is continuing an air search, but land operations have been paused until Tuesday morning.
Station manager Conrad Leather said the search by fire officers and volunteers had been "scaled back" because of heavy wind and rain with the police helicopter not even able to fly because of the weather. A spokesman for Cumbria Police said: "The search has been conducted under difficult weather conditions and the dangers to the emergency service personnel involved means that unfortunately the search has had to be scaled back with an air search continuing at this time by the coastguard's helicopter.
A coastguard helicopter was assisting in the operation and a boom set up at Horse Bridge, but both the car and the man remained unaccounted for. "This will be reviewed again in the morning.
"Members of the public are asked not to search along the banks of the River Kent due to the extreme dangers of the condition of the banks and the rising river."
The fire service, police, coastguard and volunteers from Kendal Mountain Rescue have all been involved with the search since the car entered the river at Aynam Road.
Police are investigating why the the car left the road.
BBC Cumbria's Martin Lewes said rainfall had swollen the river.BBC Cumbria's Martin Lewes said rainfall had swollen the river.
He said the river could be up to 8ft (2.4m) deep in places and the search was moving downstream. He said the river could be up to 8ft (2.4m) deep in places and the search had moved several miles downstream from where the car entered.
The reporter who is at the scene said: "The river is about as high it gets before people start to seriously worry about it. The reporter who said: "The river is about as high it gets before people start to seriously worry about it.
"There is a mystery about how the car managed to leave the road which is a fairly straight road along the side of the river."There is a mystery about how the car managed to leave the road which is a fairly straight road along the side of the river.
"The mystery is where the car has got to and what has happened to the man who was seen with it and anyone else inside.""The mystery is where the car has got to and what has happened to the man who was seen with it and anyone else inside."