It’s 15 years since West Cumbria was hit by mammoth floods – turning thousands of people’s lives upside down.
About a month’s-worth of rain fell in hours, leading to rivers, streams and becks overflowing and pushing its way through the area, running down the fells and forcing a deluge of water into the river system.
The River Derwent flooded Keswick and the surrounding fields and villages, before moving downstream to Cockermouth where it met the River Cocker and flooded the town.
It continued towards Workington, where Seaton and Barepot were hit.
At the time, it was said it was a ‘one-in-a-100-year’ event – but just six years later the area flooded again.
PC Bill Barker was killed when Northside Bridge collapsed on November 20 2009. He was directing members of the public away from the crumbling structure when it suddenly gave way beneath him.
Almost 24,000 people paid tribute to the 45-year-old officer, hailed a hero, on social media and hundreds of people attended his funeral.
A permanent memorial stands for PC Barker in Curwen Park, unveiled by his wife Hazel in 2012. He was also posthumously awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery.
Navvies Bridge, was also washed away and Workington Bridge, also known as Calva Bridge, was badly damaged.
The cost of the damage it caused was estimated to be around £300 million.
Camerton’s cemetery was also affected, with many graves disturbed and gravestones being damaged or upturned. A road bridge over a disused railway line in the Camerton collapsed due to floodwater on the railway line.
Dock Bridge, which carried a single track railway and footpath linking the steelworks and the docks saw the end at Merchant’s Quay, swept away. The bridge was demolished.
Workington and Seaton became almost completely cut off from the rest of Cumbria and the army moved in to build a new footbridge upstream of Calva Bridge. It opened on December 7 and was named after PC Barker. The crossing was taken down in February 2011, after the nearby Calva bridge was repaired and reopened to pedestrians
In Cockermouth, around 900 properties and around 1,400 people were affected. It was the third time the area had flooded in four years.
On November 19 2009 water levels in the town reached up to 8ft 2in and hundreds of people had to be rescued by emergency services.
