Cumbria floods: Police officer missing after bridge collapse

A search was launched today for a police officer who went missing after a bridge collapsed during heavy flooding.

Cumbria Police said the male officer was unaccounted for after Northside bridge, on one of the main routes into Workington, collapsed overnight, cutting off the gas supply to the town.

A spokesman for the police said: "A search operation is under way and we have assigned a liaison officer to support the family.

"This is an extremely difficult time for the officer's colleagues, who are still committed to supporting the community and dealing with the flood situation."

The spokesman said the bridge collapsed at around 4.40am.

Two bridges have collapsed in the town where conditions are described as "extremely dangerous" after torrential rains caused rivers to burst their banks.

Cumbria has been hardest hit by the weather with main roads blocked, schools closed and more than 200 people forced to leave their homes overnight.

RAF helicopters airlifted at least 50 people from buildings in nearby Cockermouth, where police said around 960 homes were at risk of flooding.

Dozens of others were helped to safety by the RNLI, the coastguard, police, fire and rescue and mountain rescue teams.

An RNLI spokeswoman said one of its boats based in Workington evacuated residents from an old people's home in the area.

She said: "The information I have is that it happened overnight and a dozen people were rescued from Camerton Hall residential home."

The Met Office said the village of Seathwaite in Cumbria recorded 6.8in (173mm) of rain in 24 hours.

Another 5.9in (150mm) could fall on the Lake District's higher fells by midday today.

Flooding was also reported in north-west Wales and in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.

The Environment Agency had in place six severe flood warnings - all in Cumbria - 29 flood warnings, and 65 less serious flood watches.

Water levels rose to almost 8ft (2.5m) on the worst affected streets in Cockermouth, police said.

But by the early hours flood water levels in the town had stopped rising, allowing rescuers to reach people trapped in their homes by boat.

Previously swirling currents and debris in the water had prevented boats being deployed.

More than 200 Cockermouth residents have spent the night in emergency reception centres at Cockermouth Secondary School, Keswick Convention Centre, Ulverston Victoria Hall School, Penrith Leisure Centre and St Joseph's Secondary School in Workington.

John Carlin, owner of the Allerdale Court Hotel, situated in Cockermouth town centre, said the amount of rainfall to hit the area was "staggering".

He said: "I have lived here for 15 years and have never seen anything like it.

"At two o'clock (yesterday) it was raining heavily but there was nothing here but now there is four feet of water outside my front door. The amount of rain has been staggering.

"It's desperate. The town centre is completely flooded, the only people out there at the moment are the emergency services. The water is up to the waists of the firefighters.

"We are under six inches of water ourselves but we have still got electricity and the fire service have told us they are on standby if they need to evacuate us.

"I can see still see lights on outside. Our hotel electricity is in the cellar, I have tried to seal it up but we've lost it if it fills up."

The storm is expected to ease off today as it moves into south-east England, but gales and heavy rain are predicted to return tomorrow.

Rachel Vince, a forecaster with MeteoGroup UK, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "There will be some respite by tonight - by the evening it looks like being dry across the whole of the UK."

Councillor Bob Hardon, who lives in Workington, said residents were cut off by the floods.

He said: "I haven't been down into town yet but apparently both the bridges out of town are down now.

"Workington now has no mains gas supply either because the bridge carried the supply so any poor soul cooking or using gas heating is in trouble.

"This is the worst weather in a long time. In 1976 I worked in the brewery in Cockermouth and we had beer barrels floating in the cellar but this is as bad as it's been for a long time."

Kevin Bell, night porter at the Washington Central Hotel in Workington, said: "The affected area is about 400 yards from here. I've been down and had a look but you can't get very close because it's cordoned off.

"A cricket pitch and the old speedway track are among areas under water, which is up to four feet deep in places, somebody said.

"It's terrible, it shows the volume of water that went through, to knock a bridge over.

"We've had floods before but not to this degree. It's probably one of those once in 100 year events," said Mr Bell, 48, of Maryport, Cumbria.

Gordon Brown said that he had spoken to Cumbria Chief Constable Craig Mackey to assure him that any help he needed would be provided.

"Our thoughts are with all those who have been impacted by these floods and our thanks go out to the emergency services who continue in their extraordinary efforts to help the people affected," he said.

The Prime Minister said that he had also been in contact with Environment Secretary Hilary Benn who was in Cumbria to assess the situation.

The Ministry of Defence said the Army had been called out to help with door-to-door work in the flood hit areas of Cumbria.

A spokeswoman said soldiers were helping the civilian emergency services in cases where people were trapped in their homes.

RNLI divisional inspector north Andy Clift said the rescue operation would continue throughout the day.

He said: "RNLI teams arrived on scene around 10pm last night. They have worked through the night in horrendous conditions, evacuating people from their homes in Cockermouth.

"We are about to relieve them with another crew who are travelling from Carlisle and will also be sending an RNLI crew to Keswick to assist power company staff attempting to reach an electricity sub-station.

"Workington RNLI all-weather lifeboat crew is now also involved in a sea search off the Cumbria coast following a bridge collapse.

"Our swift water rescue-trained volunteer teams, made up of coastal lifeboat volunteers and staff from the charity, train year-round to ensure we can respond to the specific conditions faced with swift water flooding, which are different to the conditions our volunteers usually face at sea."

Mr Benn, who is in Cockermouth, said it may have "the wettest day ever recorded" in the county.

He said that even defences built after the floods of 2005 to withstand a "one-in-100-years flood" 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," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

While the flood waters were beginning to go down, he warned that more rain was forecast.

"It is very important that people listen out for warnings, follow the advice that they are given, and look out for elderly neighbours or relatives," he said.

A Cumbria police spokeswoman said emergency services were looking at 10 properties in Cockermouth they had not been able to reach previously.

Severe weather causing chaos across Cumbria could be a "historical event", forecasters said.

Parts of the county have seen more than 250mm (9.8 inches) of rainfall - possibly as much as 300mm (11.8 inches) in some areas.

Julian Mayes, a forecaster with MeteoGroup UK, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "It looks like a very historical event.

"It may well have broken the record for rainfall in the area in November."

Cockermouth resident Gwenda Davies was staying at a friend's home when the deluge hit and both were trapped in the upstairs of the house.

Ms Davies told Sky News the levels of water in the house had not "moved" overnight.

She said: "We've just been to the stairs below and it's just not moved since we went to sleep. The weather has been atrocious."