Desmond

Winter storm Desmond arrived in Cumbria early evening on Friday 04 December. The afternoon and evening before there had been torrential rain but Friday until that point had been quite dry.

From about 5pm the wind howled and a steady torrent of rain fell. We had planned Saturday to be a canoe river trip but this had been cancelled as it became evident from the weather forecast that river levels would be high. An attempt to visit Carrock Mine was made as an alternative on the Saturday morning but even by 11:30 signs of what might follow became apparent, the River Caldew broke its banks all over the Mungrisdale - Caldbeck Road. Before we called off the underground exploration we were able to capture a few seconds of the flooding in the Northern Fells on video. On Saturday evening after the scenes from Appleby, Keswick and Cockermouth had already hit the headlines it became apparent that once more Carlisle's flood defences were under threat from the ever rising River Eden. After some discussion we went ahead with plans to meet friends at Adriano's Restaurant in the city centre. Driving home after a pleasant early evening out we were diverted off Warwick Road by emergency services. The terrible events that led to: a major incident being declared; blanket national news coverage and a massive multi-agency response had begun to unfold.

The following day, bright and clear, revealed many sad and sombre situations ...