Floods in North of England - Carlisle badly hit

[marthamoo]

I've only just seen this on the news. We're in the North-West and have had some heavy rain and high winds but nothing like this - it's terrible

here

Apologies if someone else has already mentioned this..

[NameChangingMancMidlander]

Hope our NE MNers are ok....

[chatee]

hi,just got power back on after it went off yesterday morning and we're lucky-some parts of carlisle are still under at least four feet of water.
can't stay long as my excuse was popping to the loo!!!!!
ahh so glad to be back and dh is happy as he's had two days off work extra and now his beloved sky sports is back...
will tell the story of a night in the dark with a 4 year old and a 10 month old later
hope any other carlisle mners are ok,if anyone knows anyone needing help-give me a shout
back later

[chatee]

well the electricity has stayed on this time YIPPEE.
i was really lucky as dh couldn't get into work, we did try and some of the sights were unbelievable-we were showing dd the water blocking the roads and the fallen trees in the hope that it would help her understand(the difficulties of travel and why we had no power etc)as she couldn't quite grasp that when she went to the toilet the light wouldn't come on but she understood about the t.v., the cooker and the lights everywhere else? also two of her friends were supposed to be having a birthday party at a play area in the city centre which had to be cancelled but the parents were now holding in their house but we didn't know whether we could get there....(the worst thing was she had to miss a friends party last week as i had no one to take her as dh was working and her darling little brother was contagious with chicken pox, so had promised her that she could go to this one-all she kept saying was but you did promise Mummy and a promise is a promise
luckily we managed to get there and all the children were very good considering no electricity for music etc
back at home she wanted to blow the candles out from 5.30pm and at 6.30we gave up the ghost and all toddled up to bed, dh with dd and me with ds.
ds had the best night of all, he thought it was wonderful to be in bed with the feeding machineand the amount of time i was stirred from my light sleep to find him happily sucking away unfortunately last night he was not impressed to be on his own with no direct access-oh well a few more nights sleep after nearly a month without sleep won't matter...
dh on the other hand was not as happy -squashed into a single bed with dd who insisted on at least twenty stories recited(and she interruptedif he missed a bit)and she grinds her teeth and talks most of the night(and that's asleep!!)
well no school today or work for me but dh is working this evening so hopefully the weather won't be bad as i think it would be really hard with the two of them on my own...
well hope everyone else is ok...need to find my house insurance docs now

[chatee]

ooh didn't realise it was that long...sorry

[marthamoo]

Chattee, wow! I'm really glad you're OK.

[Marina]

Chatee, I was going to post about this as my parents in Denton Holme live by the Caldew and were nearly evacuated (spent 36 hours without power though). Luckily the river stopped rising THREE INCHES from their footpath...
I wondered how you were - is your house OK? Am really down about how hard Carlisle has been hit and what a dreadful mess it has made.
Dad said the Tullie House was OK but that Debenhams wasn't, how has the Sands Centre fared? Know poor Bitts Park must have been washed away
How are Cockermouth and Keswick, do you know? Dad also said the lower bits of Cockermouth have been completely awash.
Wishing all Cumbrian Mners a swift return to normal. Normally the county's rivers are well up to all this weather

[JanH]

Marina, a bit I read said there was 2 months' rain in 24 hours And that there has been far too much building on the flood plain (here we go again) since the last such weather.

chatee, do hope you are completely covered for any damage done. The pictures are horrendous.

[roisin]

Thanks for posting Chatee - I was thinking about you at the weekend, and wondering how you had fared.

Dh's brother rang us up to see if we were OK - his geography obviously isn't up to much!

[Marina]

Janh, do you mean out Solway Firth way? I had not really twigged that could be a contributory factor in Carlisle's case, don't know the West of the city at all.
On our way up to see them at New Year we passed over a section of low-lying ground between the A14 and railway line on the outskirts of Huntingdon, next to the river, which is almost always boggy/flooded in Winter. For once it wasn't and they appear to be building homes on it. FGS! You'd have to be MAD to live there.

[JanH]

I don't know where they meant, Marina - I can't find the piece now, and can't "see" it, so don't even know which website it was on

Do you mean the rain or the building though? From what I do remember I got the impression the building was in/near Carlisle (of course the Solway Firth might be the same thing, my geog isn't up to much either!)

[JanH]

Found it (wonderful google) :



From Telegraph .