Your Community - Cumbrian Floods

It’s been almost three months since the floods hit Cumbria, a devastating time for many people across the county. Cockermouth and Workington may have made the national news but many other areas of the county were also badly affected including Ulverston and Keswick. Cumbria County Council has been the lead organisation co-ordinating the recovery operation since last November, taking over from Cumbria Constabulary, who were in charge during the emergency phase of the incident. As well as working out how to help those whose lives have been impacted by the floods, there has been a successful lobbying effort to make sure Cumbria gets the help it needs from the Government. There has also been a big communications drive, with a wealth of information available on how to get help and assistance. Flood support centres were set up offering help and advice in Keswick, Cockermouth, Workington and Ulverston along with two mobile centres.

Cumbria has remained open for business throughout, with advertisement campaigns to encourage local people to shop local and to encourage visitors to support Cumbria. The flooding directly affected hundreds of homes and businesses but the sheer volume of water has also had a major impact on Cumbria’s transport network. There’s been a lot of work done to check the safety of bridges, reopen damaged roads and begin the process of linking together communities separated by bridge collapses. A temporary footbridge was organised with the help of the army, and public transport set up to help people get around. A temporary railway station, ‘Workington North,’ and additional train services have helped to get people across to the town centre. 

The process to build a temporary road bridge across the River Derwent to connect the two sides of Workington by road is being done as quickly as humanly possible – far quicker than normal for such a large engineering project. The new bridge will be in place by late spring. 

There’s been an impressive roll call of achievements and progress made in the flood recovery operation. But for many people the hard work to get affected areas back to normal will continue for months to come. If you have been affected we’d like to hear from you. You can help us gather a definitive picture of the impact the flooding has had and help us tackle any ongoing issues. For more information visit cumbria.gov.uk/floods where there’s a short online questionnaire to complete.