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| Cumbria residents still counting cost of Storm Desmond a year on | Cumbria residents still counting cost of Storm Desmond a year on |
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| When the river Eden swept into Angela and Ian Burrow’s house uninvited one night last December, they resigned themselves to spending the festive period in a rented flat paid for by the insurance company. But not in their wildest, darkest fears did they ever anticipate a second Christmas Day away from their smallholding outside Crosby-on-Eden, five miles from Carlisle. | When the river Eden swept into Angela and Ian Burrow’s house uninvited one night last December, they resigned themselves to spending the festive period in a rented flat paid for by the insurance company. But not in their wildest, darkest fears did they ever anticipate a second Christmas Day away from their smallholding outside Crosby-on-Eden, five miles from Carlisle. |
| Yet that is their miserable reality, along with at least 700 other families across Cumbria, whose homes are still uninhabitable a year after being battered by the brutal triumvirate of Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank last December, which flooded 16,000 properties across the UK. | Yet that is their miserable reality, along with at least 700 other families across Cumbria, whose homes are still uninhabitable a year after being battered by the brutal triumvirate of Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank last December, which flooded 16,000 properties across the UK. |
| Record volumes of rain fell on land already saturated from a soggy autumn, causing rivers to swell so much that the Burrows found a pregnant cow at the golf course at the bottom of their garden which had been carried 20 miles down the Eden from her farm near the village of Great Salkeld. | Record volumes of rain fell on land already saturated from a soggy autumn, causing rivers to swell so much that the Burrows found a pregnant cow at the golf course at the bottom of their garden which had been carried 20 miles down the Eden from her farm near the village of Great Salkeld. |
| The family had only moved to their dream home three years before Desmond destroyed the ground floor, wiped out their large vegetable patch and killed seven bee colonies in the garden. | The family had only moved to their dream home three years before Desmond destroyed the ground floor, wiped out their large vegetable patch and killed seven bee colonies in the garden. |
| On Thursday yet another surveyor had come to inspect the ravaged interior, the walls of the 19th century red stone house only recently replastered, bare lightbulbs strung in a rudimentary circuit. The latest set of builders say they will be done in three weeks. The Burrows do not believe it, but know that come mid-January the insurers will stop paying the rent at the two-bedroom flat they have been crammed into with their teenagers for the past year. | On Thursday yet another surveyor had come to inspect the ravaged interior, the walls of the 19th century red stone house only recently replastered, bare lightbulbs strung in a rudimentary circuit. The latest set of builders say they will be done in three weeks. The Burrows do not believe it, but know that come mid-January the insurers will stop paying the rent at the two-bedroom flat they have been crammed into with their teenagers for the past year. |
| They were insured for flooding, but like many victims have been deeply unhappy with the work the insurer’s contractors have carried out. “I ended up on antidepressants because of the stress of it all,” said Angie, a bookkeeper. The couple’s 13-year-old son has also suffered anxiety and depression, she added. | They were insured for flooding, but like many victims have been deeply unhappy with the work the insurer’s contractors have carried out. “I ended up on antidepressants because of the stress of it all,” said Angie, a bookkeeper. The couple’s 13-year-old son has also suffered anxiety and depression, she added. |
| He is not alone. On Monday, the first anniversary of Storm Desmond, a children’s book about the floods will be launched at the newly rebuilt village hall in Crosby to alleviate the fears and uncertainties felt by those affected by flooding. Susan Fox, the author of Joe and Storm Desmond, wrote the book in the wreckage of her home in Crosby as she struggled to clear up after her fourth flood. | He is not alone. On Monday, the first anniversary of Storm Desmond, a children’s book about the floods will be launched at the newly rebuilt village hall in Crosby to alleviate the fears and uncertainties felt by those affected by flooding. Susan Fox, the author of Joe and Storm Desmond, wrote the book in the wreckage of her home in Crosby as she struggled to clear up after her fourth flood. |
| The cost to Cumbria of Storm Desmond, the first and worst of last year’s winter storms as far as that county was concerned, is estimated at £500m or more. But as a report from the Carlisle Flood Action Group, a local pressure group, points out, the damage is not just financial: “The human cost of the storm and its aftermath is similarly incalculable. The effect of evacuation and displacement on physical and mental health, with lives put on hold, was significant and remains so for many.” | The cost to Cumbria of Storm Desmond, the first and worst of last year’s winter storms as far as that county was concerned, is estimated at £500m or more. But as a report from the Carlisle Flood Action Group, a local pressure group, points out, the damage is not just financial: “The human cost of the storm and its aftermath is similarly incalculable. The effect of evacuation and displacement on physical and mental health, with lives put on hold, was significant and remains so for many.” |
| Getting around Cumbria remains a trial for many. Across the county three bridges were washed away, with 554 more damaged. So far just 130 have been mended, with eight still closed to traffic a year on. | Getting around Cumbria remains a trial for many. Across the county three bridges were washed away, with 554 more damaged. So far just 130 have been mended, with eight still closed to traffic a year on. |
| Warwick Road in Carlisle, which turned into a river when Desmond hit on 5 December, is open but still some way from back to normal. | Warwick Road in Carlisle, which turned into a river when Desmond hit on 5 December, is open but still some way from back to normal. |
| Blue ribbons tied to trees and lamp-posts commemorate the high water mark of 2 metres from when the river Petteril topped nearby Botcherby Bridge, causing water to back up on the wrong side of the flood defences. | Blue ribbons tied to trees and lamp-posts commemorate the high water mark of 2 metres from when the river Petteril topped nearby Botcherby Bridge, causing water to back up on the wrong side of the flood defences. |
| Billy Bone, who has owned the Foreways Convenience Store for 29 years, says his takings are two-thirds down, year on year. He lost all of his stock when floodwaters invaded, reaching the top shelf of the magazine rack at the storm’s peak. | Billy Bone, who has owned the Foreways Convenience Store for 29 years, says his takings are two-thirds down, year on year. He lost all of his stock when floodwaters invaded, reaching the top shelf of the magazine rack at the storm’s peak. |
| Claire’s Bakery is still squatting in a caravan in front of the flooded shop, the carpet store has moved all its non-ruined stock upstairs and dozens of houses are either still empty, midway through renovation or up for auction. According to Keith Little, a Cumbria county councillor, some people can’t face moving back and so are cutting their losses. Others have in effect decided to live upstairs in case another flood hits. | |
| Before the recent flood, the handsome Victorian three-beds, with their high ceilings and bay windows, would have gone for £165,000. Recently the house next to Angela and Wilson Watson sold for £75,000, the owners willing to take a stinging hit if it meant they never again faced inundation by flood waters. | Before the recent flood, the handsome Victorian three-beds, with their high ceilings and bay windows, would have gone for £165,000. Recently the house next to Angela and Wilson Watson sold for £75,000, the owners willing to take a stinging hit if it meant they never again faced inundation by flood waters. |
| The Watsons are among the luckier residents of Warwick Road, having managed to move back in May. They hit the headlines last year when they were rescued on a life raft along with their waterphobic border collie cross, Brunn. Angela noted at the time that they had managed to save her most prized possession – season tickets for Carlisle United – when the waters started to lap up their stairs, eventually reaching 1.4 metres up the walls. | The Watsons are among the luckier residents of Warwick Road, having managed to move back in May. They hit the headlines last year when they were rescued on a life raft along with their waterphobic border collie cross, Brunn. Angela noted at the time that they had managed to save her most prized possession – season tickets for Carlisle United – when the waters started to lap up their stairs, eventually reaching 1.4 metres up the walls. |
| The couple take a philosophical approach to their tragedy, with Angela even creating a hardback photo book to show visitors what the now immaculate house looked like filled with dirty water. “We don’t really blame anybody for what happened. It was a series of circumstances that all came together. To have stopped our house flooding they’d have to build flood barriers 10 feet higher. It’s just not practical,” said Angela, 68, a retired special needs teacher. | The couple take a philosophical approach to their tragedy, with Angela even creating a hardback photo book to show visitors what the now immaculate house looked like filled with dirty water. “We don’t really blame anybody for what happened. It was a series of circumstances that all came together. To have stopped our house flooding they’d have to build flood barriers 10 feet higher. It’s just not practical,” said Angela, 68, a retired special needs teacher. |
| Others are less sanguine. David Sowden is a retired policeman who until last week was living in a mobile home in his front drive in Crosby-on-Eden. He is furious to find himself flooded out again, following an inundation in 2005. “They should have built higher and better flood defences,” he insisted, asking why the council spent £38m on defences in Carlisle which didn’t hold. | Others are less sanguine. David Sowden is a retired policeman who until last week was living in a mobile home in his front drive in Crosby-on-Eden. He is furious to find himself flooded out again, following an inundation in 2005. “They should have built higher and better flood defences,” he insisted, asking why the council spent £38m on defences in Carlisle which didn’t hold. |
| But Little, the council’s lead on infrastructure, insists that “at least 1,000 homes were saved because of those defences. It would have been a lot worse without them.” | But Little, the council’s lead on infrastructure, insists that “at least 1,000 homes were saved because of those defences. It would have been a lot worse without them.” |
| The Carlisle Flood Action Group argues that Storm Desmond proved localised works of river defence are “an action of last resort”. | The Carlisle Flood Action Group argues that Storm Desmond proved localised works of river defence are “an action of last resort”. |
| Instead, the group’s latest report, released on Friday, blames poor river management. “Contrary to government reporting on Desmond the flooding of Carlisle was not principally caused by a storm blown in by climate change but as a direct result of long-term lack of river maintenance and poor management causing the build-up of accumulated gravels and thereby forcing rivers to flow higher in their channels than they used to,” the authors argue, adding: “As conditions currently stand the city and catchment does not appear to be in a fundamentally better place than 12 months ago.” | Instead, the group’s latest report, released on Friday, blames poor river management. “Contrary to government reporting on Desmond the flooding of Carlisle was not principally caused by a storm blown in by climate change but as a direct result of long-term lack of river maintenance and poor management causing the build-up of accumulated gravels and thereby forcing rivers to flow higher in their channels than they used to,” the authors argue, adding: “As conditions currently stand the city and catchment does not appear to be in a fundamentally better place than 12 months ago.” |
| Little insists that the council is better prepared now should the heavens open again to the same devastating degree. River height and flow is being monitored much better and 12,000 drains have been cleared, he said. This year 1,200 soldiers from three battalions are on standby to help clear-up in the event of further flooding. And the Met Office has agreed to improve weather forecasting for the Carlisle region: Little and colleagues only discovered last winter that the nearest meteorological monitoring stations are either in the east of Ireland or over the border in Northumberland. | Little insists that the council is better prepared now should the heavens open again to the same devastating degree. River height and flow is being monitored much better and 12,000 drains have been cleared, he said. This year 1,200 soldiers from three battalions are on standby to help clear-up in the event of further flooding. And the Met Office has agreed to improve weather forecasting for the Carlisle region: Little and colleagues only discovered last winter that the nearest meteorological monitoring stations are either in the east of Ireland or over the border in Northumberland. |
| But ultimately Little knows that if the county experiences the same levels of rainfall after a damp month again, parts of Cumbria could be in trouble: “Fingers crossed for a dry and cold winter like we used to have.” | But ultimately Little knows that if the county experiences the same levels of rainfall after a damp month again, parts of Cumbria could be in trouble: “Fingers crossed for a dry and cold winter like we used to have.” |