24/11/2009 - Floods update - 4pm : Cumbria County Council

A huge multi-agency recovery effort is already beginning to make a real difference to communities suffering severe disruption from the floods which hit the county last Thursday.

The county council continues to have a close dialogue with Government departments to get commitments that the costs of recovery and replacements of infrastructure will be met.

This morning just five schools remained shut, although two more primary schools (Lorton School and Borrowdale School) closed early today as a precautionary measure against the expected further heavy rainfall. Keswick School have sent home pupils from the Borrowdale area.

So far the only schools that have confirmed they will be closed tomorrow are Ennerdale and Kinniside, Cockermouth and Keswick.

Parents should stay tuned to Radio Cumbria in the morning or check their website news.bbc.co.uk/local/cumbria/hi/default.stm (external link) for the latest school closure information.

This morning children who needed to cross the River Derwent to get to school suffered severe disruption when travelling on the Papcastle Bridge diversion. We are looking at ways to improve the travel time. A new school transport timetable has now been drawn up and is being publicised via the schools themselves.

Very heavy rainfall with a maximum of 100mm is expected from 7pm this evening until 3am, with river levels expected to peak in the early hours. The rain is expected to move from West Cumbria early in the evening and then move eastwards to the Eden catchment between Appleby and Carlisle later on. The Environment Agency are continually checking river levels and the integrity of flood defences.

ROADS, BRIDGES AND TRANSPORT:

A separate media release has just been issued on current road and bridge closures. Check www.cumbria.gov.uk for further updates.

The public are being urged to drive with care and not to attempt to circumnavigate road closure signs. Anyone found attempting to remove a road closure sign would be immediately reported to the police.

The current situation is that 21 road bridges in the county remain closed, 16 of those are in Allerdale; three road bridges have collapsed and a further five are classed as 'badly damaged' (including Calva Bridge at Workington). A further 8 footbridges are closed, four of these have collapsed.

Due to the closure of Butt Bridge at Ennerdale Bridge and Wath Bridge at Wath Brow east of Cleator Moor, Sellafield staff travelling north are advised to use the A595 and A5086. While these two bridges are closed residents or others wanting access to the south side of Ennerdale Bridge will have to travel on the A5086/A595 and across Cold Fell into the village. People at the northern end of Ennerdale Bridge can use the A5086 and C4004 Kirkland Road.

Highways engineers are continuing to check bridges across the county. A major obstacle to doing this is the continued high level of water and strong river flows which means divers cannot access the water to assess damage to foundations and underwater parts of the bridge structures.

Further movements were reported at the Calva Bridge in Workington this morning, with the bridge appearing to have dropped several inches at first light. It remains extremely unstable and the public must stay away from the bridge and surrounding river banks. If it does collapse, then telephone communications would be lost to 3,000 homes (NOT 11,000 homes as previously reported) north of the river. People are therefore urged to consider contingency arrangements in case they did need to make an emergency 999 call: keep mobile phones charged and those people who do not have a mobile phone should talk to neighbours about whether they have one in an emergency.

The number one priority in restoring the county's infrastructure is to restore links between north and south Workington via a temporary bridge. The county council's highways team is working round the clock to come up with the best solution. At this stage the most likely solution is through a single carriageway bridge controlled by traffic lights on either side. Local people will be informed as soon as it is clear what will be built and when it will be operational.

In the meantime we would urge people to please be patient given the understandably heavy traffic using the diversion at Papcastle.

The footbridge known as the Old Railway Bridge in the Port or Workington is also structurally unstable and the public must not attempt to cross the river by foot here.

The recovery effort is also focussing on public transport plans with rail services and Stagecoach bus providers, particularly in the North Workington area. Northern Rail is currently running a normal timetable from Workington and is strengthening individual services with extra carriages where possible. Network Rail will start work tonight to build a temporary railway station on the north side of the River Derwent at Workington. The new station will be built on wasteland just over half a mile to the north of the existing station, reconnecting the two halves of the town that have been cut off. It's hoped that this will be up and running by the weekend. We are also looking to improve the shelter facilities at Flimby and Maryport stations in light of the fact that more people are using the service.

RECOVERY FUND AND VOLUNTEERS:

At the moment the Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund Appeal 2009 stands at £355,000.

Cumbria Community Foundation launched the appeal to help support individuals and communities affected by the floods. Anyone wishing to make a donation can visit the Cumbria County Council website homepage www.cumbria.gov.uk, phone 01900 820 828, or email david@cumbriafoundation.org From today the appeal has been in a position to make firm offers of support to voluntary and community organistions leading the relief effort.

Meanwhile the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has confirmed a pledge of up to £1 million for small businesses hit by the floods.

The NWDA has been working closely with Cumbria County Council, Cumbria Chamber of Commerce and Government Office North West (GONW) to offer support to assist businesses which are suffering. Small businesses seeking assistance should contact Business Link Northwest on 0845 00 66 888.

Both the county and district councils have been receiving numerous offers of help from the public and businesses. Those wanting more information are asked to contact the recovery team via email on flood.volunteers@cumbriacc.gov.uk

LIBRARY SERVICES:

All county council library and archive services remain open as normal, except for:

- Cockermouth Library which is closed due to flood damage

- Ulverston Library, which is being used as a Flood Support Centre from tomorrow opening 10am –3pm Wed and 10am –3pm Thu & Fri

- Keswick library which is still being used as a Flood Support Centre open 9.30am –4.30pm Monday - Friday

- Seaton Library, which is open 24/7 as a contact point staffed by a radio operator centre

- Workington and Whitehaven mobile libraries are being used as information centres at the Community Centre Northside Workington and Keswick Catholic Church.

To assist with the recovery stage of the floods across the county, one hour free internet access per day is being made available for residents and businesses affected by the floods. This is being provided at all libraries in Allerdale and South Lakes as well as Whitehaven, Barrow, Penrith and Carlisle libraries.

HEALTH INFORMATION:

- Workington health provision:

Extra GP clinics are being held at both Northside Community Centre and Firth House, Seaton for people who need to see a GP and are unable to get to their own GP surgery. Patients should call their own GP to arrange before going. People’s own GPs will also be able to advise how people can pick up a repeat prescription.

Drop-in clinics are available all week at:

Northside Community Centre, Trinity Drive, Northside Between 9am - 10am and 4:30pm - 5:30pm

Firth House, Main Rd, Seaton

Between 10:30pm –12:30pm and 2pm –4pm

- Cockermouth health provision:

South Street Surgery and Derwent House Surgery have relocated to Cockermouth community hospital. Appointments can be booked on 01900-822226. Both surgeries will operate an appointment and drop-in clinic service there from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday.

Fitz Road Surgery will be open as normal.

Vaccination programme for essential workers:

All essential workers involved in the flood rescue and recovery work in Cockermouth are being invited to attend a special vaccination clinic on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday. The seasonal flu, swine flu and pneumococcal vaccinations is being offered to all key workers involved in the recovery operation. This includes police officers, fire officers, volunteers, council workers, healthcare workers and media covering the story amongst others.

The drop-in clinic is being held at Cockermouth Methodist Church on Lorton Street, CA13 9RH, from 12pm today until 5pm tomorrow (Wednesday 25th November).

FLOOD SUPPORT CENTRES:

Flood support centres are still open in Cockermouth, Workington and Keswick and are experiencing a steady stream of people looking for advice on housing, insurance and other issues related to getting back on their feet.

The flood support centres are also a place where people can charge their mobile phones for free, register for free bulky waste collection and ask any questions about the difficulties they're facing.

The flood support centres are in the following locations:

Christ Church, South Road, opening 10am –5pm

Town Hall, Oxford Road, opening 9am –5pm There will also be a mobile support centre available in Northside and Seaton via the mobile library from 9.30am - 4.30pm

Keswick Library, opening 9am –5pm

There will also be a mobile support centre parked at the Catholic Church opposite the Esso Garage from 9.30am - 4.30pm

Ulverston Library,
Wednesday – 10am – 1pm
Thursday – 10am – 3pm
Friday – 10am – 3 pm

A special newsletter for those affected by the floods is being distributed at the flood support centres and other council locations. The second edition of the newsletter is attached here.

Remote banking services are being made available tomorrow to people North of River Derwent in Workington. A Natwest mobile banking unit will be at Northside Community Centre from 10.30am - 12.30pm tomorrow and Seaton Library from 1.30pm - 3.30pm. All services will be available to Nat West customers but they can also issue cash to non-Natwest customers if they have a cheque and a cash card (they will also be able to make cheque payments for bills etc.)