Morning:
8°c
A policeman died today when he was swept away while trying to rescue a driver stranded by floods caused by the heaviest 24 hours of rain in English history.
Pc Bill Barker, 44, and a colleague had gone to the aid of a driver trapped on the Northside bridge in Workington, Cumbria, at about 4.40am.#
As the structure collapsed he fell into the river Derwent. His body was discovered on a beach in West Cumbria.
During the storm a record 314.4mm (12.3 inches) of rain fell within 24 hours in Cumbria. The previous record was 279.4mm set in Dorset in 1955.
Four bridges collapsed, main roads were blocked, 21 schools closed and more than 250 people were forced to leave their homes in Cockermouth - the worst-hit town. Hundreds more people are still trapped across the region.
The Environment Agency's floodline service received more than 12,000 calls from the public over 48 hours and issued more than 43,000 alerts via phone, text, email and fax.
Tributes were paid this afternoon to Pc Barker, a father of four.
Assistant Chief Constable Jerry Graham said: "Our thoughts go out to Pc Barker and his family. Pc Barker had been serving in Cumbria Police for 25 years. I've heard nothing but good reports about him today."
Mr Graham said Pc Barker and a colleague went onto the bridge on foot to help drivers trying to get across it.
He added: "Unfortunately when they were on the bridge it gave way just due to the volume of water and Pc Barker went into the water and was swept away."
Robin Taylor, 50, a maintenance engineer from Workington, said: "I have lived here for 28 years and I've never seen anything like this.
"I was told the police officer had gone to the bridge to help a car that had become stuck and, as he was leading them away, the pavement side of the bridge collapsed first and he was gone."
A major search for Pc Barker had been hampered by "horrendous" weather conditions which forced hundreds of people to flee their homes.
Mr Graham said: "I'm devastated by the events of the last few days. However, I am so proud of the way our communities and the emergency services are working together in the face of this crisis."
Pc Barker received a long service and good conduct medal after 22 years service with the force.
The family liaison officer had been recently commended by Cumbria's Chief Constable Craig Mackey for his work.
Military personnel were sent to assist the rescue operation in Cumbria.
Five RAF helicopters airlifted at least 50 people to safety. Dozens of others were helped by the RNLI, the coastguard, police, fire and mountain rescue teams. The Army was called out to help police with door-to-door work.
The Environment Agency's gauging station at Seawaite Farm recorded 314.4mm of rainfall in 24 hours up to 00.45am. Chairman Lord Smith said: "We have seen unprecedented rainfall."
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn described the storms as "a one-in-a-thousand-year flood".
Flooding was also reported in north-west Wales and in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, but Cumbria was hardest hit.
Water levels rose to almost eight feet in the worst affected streets in the town of Cockermouth.
John Carlin, owner of the Allerdale Court Hotel, said the amount of rainfall was "staggering".
He said: "It's desperate. The town centre is completely flooded. The water is up to the waists of the firefighters."
The Prime Minister assured the chief constable that any help he needed would be provided. Gordon Brown added: "Our thoughts are with all those impacted."
The storm was expected to ease as it moved into the South-East.
However rain was forecast in London for most of the weekend, with the worst downpours tomorrow night.
Reader views (8)
Condolences to all who are suffering. I think anywhere that recieves over 12 inches of rain in a 24 hour period would flood, regardless of being on a flood plain, too much concrete..etc.
- Dom, London, 20/11/2009 15:58
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Condolences to the deceased Officer and all who are suffering I wish them well.
- Dennis, London, UK, 20/11/2009 14:54
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What a terrible tradegy, my thoughts and prayers are with his family. If the so called 'hole' in the bridge was that gapping void as shown in the top right of photo then whoever was driving needs their heads examining.
- B Lane, London, 20/11/2009 14:37
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And now, to add [cynical] insult to [predictable] injury, Brown callously sends us his inept, welli-shod envoy, 'flaming' Lord Smith, to survey the horrendous flood damage!
The very same creep who insisted on us cruelly mass slaughtering and publicly cremating mountainous pyres of our livestock, during ZaNuLabour's early rise to Fascism!
- Dave, cumbria, 20/11/2009 14:30
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Steve M
Both cockermouth high street and the bridges affected in Workington are over 100 years old, furthermore the catchment basin for the cocker/derwent is the lake district national park. Hardly an "overbuilt area" of the country.
for waters to wipe out New Bridge (NOTE to press NOT "NORTHSIDE BRIDGE" I attended Northside primary school which is about 100 mtrs north of the collapsed bridge so I should know.) AND Navvies foot bridge (a modern steel and concrete beam deck placed on the sandstone piers of a former railway viaduct) in workington, AS WELL AS at least 2 other bridges in the cockermouth area, all of which have stood for well over 100 years; is completely unprecedented.
This is a climatological event and nothing REPEAT NOTHING to do with any claptrap about rampant build build build.
- Danny, workington, 20/11/2009 13:26
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I live on the east coast and we have a string of WW2 flood sirens that are in need of replacing. Our County council and Envirnoment Agency don`t want to do that, mainly because of the cost, and want instead to rely on text messaging etc for warning the public. Which of course you have to sign up for and you just hope your phone is working. I think the time has now come, with so many incidents such as Cockermouth etc coming one on top of another, the govt needs to invest real money on improving our flood defences. We also need to give the police mandatory powers for both evacuation and control over people entering a flood area. At the moment no one can force anyone from their home or stop them putting themselves, and consequently their rescuers, at risk by going into a flood area. We also need regional centres spread right across the country from which boats, manpower (civilian and military) and all the other paraphernalia, neccesary to deal with something like Cockermouth, during and for the mop up afterwards, to be deployed from. As usual all the emergencies have come together and done a heroic job in terrible conditions; but their lives would be made much easier by having a single point of reference to go to, to get whatever they want. A national standard for inter agency approach for flooding also needs to be drawn up drawing on best practice - the trouble is nowdays you just don`t know when you are next - the threat from inland flooding is growing all the time.
- Brian G, Norfolk Gorleston, 20/11/2009 13:08
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My heart goes out to the people caught up in this awful situation.
What have we done for many years, concrete on green belt, built houses on what used to be natuaral flood plains etc etc
There has been no thought given whatsoever to the effects of build build build, we are now a very crowded island, and will be getting much more crowded in the future.
The Goverment will blame this on Global Warming, but when Gordon Brown announces we need 3 or 4 million new houses etc etc, unchecked immigration is good etc etc, what did he think the effect of all this would be.
- Steve M, London, 20/11/2009 12:25
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Once again the UK is caught off it´s guard by floods. With predicted global warming and climatic changes, it´s likely to get worse in years to come too.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands, 20/11/2009 12:02
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