Cumbria County Council is asking for help from farmers and landowners in the aftermath of the storms and flooding last weekend.
County council engineers are working round the clock to help the road network recover from the battering it received in the recent spell of wild weather.
The storms have left many roadside trees damaged and many drainage ditches full of debris left by wind and water. There is now a danger that damaged roadside trees may fall down or drop branches onto the highway. Blocked drainage ditches may also increase the risk of further flooding.
Landowners are legally responsible for roadside trees and drainage ditches on their land, but Cumbria County Council is asking everyone concerned to make a special effort to deal with damaged trees on the highway and clear storm debris from drainage channels.
The county council is also asking the Environment Agency to ensure that its drainage network is as clear as possible and asking the Highways Agency to keep the roadside trees in a fit condition where they area responsible.
Clive Pickering, director of Cumbria County Council’s Contract Services, said: "The county’s highways service is pulling out all the stops to get things back to normal as quickly as we can, but we are asking for help from landowners. We need to make sure that trees and vegetation on private land at the sides of the county’s roads are not presenting a danger. Also, we are appealing to all landowners to ensure that drainage channels on their land are able to flow as freely as possible."
Helen Little, food and farming advisor with the NFU North West, said: "We would encourage all farmers and landowners to do what they can to help the situation in Cumbria following the recent storms and deal with the effects where maintenance is up to them. We trust that the Environment Agency and other bodies will do the same where they are responsible."
Douglas Chalmers, regional director of the Country Land and Business Association, said: "Although the Council is right to point out that landowners are legally responsible for trees and drains on their land, it is in everyone's interests that these jobs are done. Farmers and landowners who keep on top of these maintenance tasks reduce the risk of damage to their own property as well as to the highway and its users."