Prime Minister convenes Cobra meeting to discuss floods as thousands of homes remain without power and Met Office warns of more heavy rain
• Big clean-up continues as schools shut and NHS services disrupted
• Dozens of flood warnings remain in force as more heavy rain due
• Severe transport delays as major rail link cut off by flooding
• Flood defence cuts 'left families at mercy of Storm Desmond'
• Storm Desmond: Everything we know so far on Monday morning
• Dozens of flood warnings remain in force as more heavy rain due
• Severe transport delays as major rail link cut off by flooding
• Flood defence cuts 'left families at mercy of Storm Desmond'
• Storm Desmond: Everything we know so far on Monday morning
Latest
08:57
Where are the latest flood warnings?
The Environment Agency still has 46 severe flood warnings in force for large areas of northern Britain - but there are also dozens of further more minor warnings and alerts. This interactive map pinpoints them all:
08:46
7,400 homes remain without power
We've just had an update from Electricity North West on the number of homes still in the dark: it says 4,751 properties in Lancaster and 2,657 in Cumbria remain without power this morning.
08:24
Call for flood defences investigation
The leader of Cumbria County Council has called for an investigation into why flood defences failed to protect the area from the effects of Storm Desmond.
Cllr Stewart Young told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "There does need to be an investigation into the flood defences.
"I will be talking to our local MPs later today and if the Environment Agency needs to revisit them then that's what's going to have to happen because we can't continue to have events like this in Cumbria, we just won't be able to cope."
The A591 road which runs through the Lake District is inspected after being damaged by flooding as a result of Storm Desmond Photo: Ashley Cooper / Barcroft Media
It comes after claims that flooding caused by Storm Desmond could have been avoided if the Government had not cancelled hundreds of defence schemes.
08:11
Rail chaos to last for several days
Network Rail is warning that widespread disruption in the north of England caused by Storm Desmond could last for several days.
Passengers who were intending to use the West Coast Main Line between Preston and Scotland on Monday not to travel during this morning's rush-hour.
All trains have been suspended and there were no plans to offer rail replacement services because of difficult driving conditions.
Pictures showing the extent of flooding in Preston and Carlisle revealed that some rail lines were under several feet of flood water:
This water must recede from the tracks before electrical equipment and tracks can be repaired. Speed restrictions are also in force across the network.
West Coast services could resume by Wednesday, but warnings of further flooding in the coming days could bring more transport havoc.
Network Rail engineers assess the damage to the West Coast Mainline near Carlisle today following flooding Photo: North News
08:00
David Cameron chairing Corbra now
The Prime Minister is now chairing a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee. We're expecting an update on the Government's response to the floods afterwards.
07:54
Police: More people to be evacuated by boat
Speaking from Carlisle, Superintendent Mark Pannone, of Cumbria Constabulary, said: "A lot of the county are trying to get back to normality but we still have the ongoing incident in Carlisle where we have about 2,500 properties in Carlisle flooded.
"People overnight have been staying in their houses or in reception centres and those that have been in their houses still need to be evacuated by boat this morning.
"The other issue we have got is that the road network is complicated throughout the county, inasmuch as Kendal will be in gridlock today because the bridges will have to be inspected for structural damage."
He added that the rail network in Cumbria remained "basically at a standstill".
People use a kayak to help rescue residents from the floods on Warwick Street in Carlisle Photo: Owen Humphreys/PA
Mr Pannone praised the team effort of Cumbrians and emergency services and partner agencies. He said: "The emergency services and others have worked superbly over the weekend. When the major incident was declared at the weekend that meant we were able to access national assets including the military, and everyone worked tirelessly together to ensure that people remained safe and try to support people in having as little disruption as possible.
"People have really shown their best side throughout the county this weekend in helping each other as well as working with emergency services and other agencies. It has been a fantastic team effort."
07:42
Dozens of flood warnings remain in force
The Environment Agency has 46 severe flood warnings - alerts it issues when there is a risk of severe flooding and danger to life - in force this morning across the north of England.
Click here for details of where they all are.
07:26
£115k raised for flooding victims
An appeal by Cumbria Community Foundation to raise £1 million to support vulnerable individuals and families who have been badly affected by the floods has already raised more than £100,000.
It aims to distribute grants to those most in need to help cover costs of cleaning up, emergency repairs, clothing, food and drink, heating and heating equipment, child care equipment and basic furniture.
07:15
12,600 homes remain without power
Electricity North West said it is continuing to work to restore power to customers after thousands of homes endured a second night of darkness.
The company has restored power to 45,000 homes in the Lancaster area and hopes to reconnect another 4,000 properties later on Monday morning.
However, around 10,000 households remain in darkness and could be without power for some time after Lancaster's main substation was engulfed by water during the heavy downpours. Another 2,600 homes in Cumbria are still without power.
A rescue team helps to evacuate people from their homes after Storm Desmond caused flooding in Carlisle Photo: Getty Images
Electricity North West incident manager Steve Cox said: "We've had engineers on boats working with the emergency services to try and access faults in Cumbria, and we've seen sterling efforts from teams in Lancaster to repair the damaged substation, while others connect generators to speed up restoration to customers.
"I'd like to thank customers for their understanding of the mammoth task we're undertaking to restore supplies.
"We've also drafted in extra support for our contact centre and are working hard to provide regular updates on social media to keep everyone updated."
07:00
David Cameron to chair emergency meeting
The Prime Minister is due to chair an emergency Cobra meeting this morning to discuss the floods.
Almost 60,000 homes in the county were left without power throughout Sunday as the floods damaged sub-stations and caused electrical faults. Electricity North West said that it had restored power to 24,000 homes by the evening.
Water supplies in a number of main towns were also affected by flood water and at least 20 schools are expected to remain closed on Monday.
British soldiers from 1st Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, assist in evacuating residents affected by Storm Desmond
The disruption has led to the cancellation of appointments and routine services across NHS hospitals and services. The Cumbria Partnership Foundation Partnership has said it will be running only essential services and more information is available via the website.
In London, the heavy winds caused a fatality when a 90-year-old man was believed to have been blown into the side of a moving bus by a gust of wind, near Finchley Central Tube station.
Cumbria Police also launched a search following reports of an elderly man falling into a swollen River Kent in Kendal.
06:45
Month's worth of rain in just one day
Following an emergency government meeting on Sunday, Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said Cumbria rain gauge figures showed a record amount had fallen in the 24 hours between Friday and Saturday evenings.
It measured 341mm in Honister, which is more than a month's worth of rainfall in just one day and more than the UK has experienced in such a short amount of time.
Ms Truss said more than 2,000 homes and businesses in the county had been flooded and promised further investments would be made to protect the area in the future.
She said: "We are delivering on our manifesto commitment to build 1,400 new flood defence schemes that will better protect 300,000 more homes. That's an extra £2.3 billion of capital investment to help our most at-risk communities."
David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said in on Twitter:
06:30
Deluge set to continue after floods devastate communities
More heavy rain is expected to hit parts of northern England and Scotland this week as work continues to repair flood damage caused by record rainfall levels in the area.
The Government has faced criticism after multi-million pound defences built following catastrophic floods in 2005 failed to keep the deluge out from people's homes in Cumbria, the county worst affected by Storm Desmond.
In Carlisle, the Army was sent to help support emergency services as they spent a second day evacuating people from their homes in streets where cars were almost entirely submerged.
But while the rain and heavy winds, which prompted the county to declare a major incident, subsided on Sunday, the Met Office issued yellow weather warnings for the rest of the week and forecast "persistent rain".
06:00
Flood defence cuts 'left families at mercy of Storm Desmond'
Flooding which brought chaos to Britain and saw thousands of people evacuated from their homes may have been avoided if the Government had not cancelled hundreds of defence schemes.
Hundreds of families are spending the night in Red Cross Shelters after Storm Desmond brought record levels of rainfall to the North of England and Scotland, causing already swollen rivers to burst their banks, deluging towns, flooding 2,000 properties and leaving 60,000 homes without power.
In Cumbria water rose to first floor windows and the army was mobilised to rescue trapped householders as David Cameron convened Cobra to deal with the growing crisis.
RNLI and Fire Rescue teams use inflatable boats to rescue residents and their pets from first floor windows in Carlisle Photo: Paul Kingston/North News
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, whose constituency Westmoreland and Lonsdale was severely affected by flooding said that the situation had been made worse because nearly 300 flood defence schemes had been dubbed "low priority" and shelved in recent years. They included a plan for the River Kent in Kendal, where an elderly man is feared drowned.
Mr Farron, who was himself trapped in the floods with his wife and children, called on the government to provide new funding.
“It is heartbreaking to see the impact of flooding once more on local people,” he said. “Lower priority schemes were shelved and should have been funded.
“There is now a major task ahead of us in terms of repairing the damage caused by these floods, and I am calling on the government to support us in this and make additional funds available.”
Unprecedented levels of rain has fallen on Britain over the weekend, with rivers across the North of England reaching record heights and Honister in Cumbria recording 13.4 inches of rain in 24 hours, the most rain to ever fall over a 24 hour period. The River Eden in Carlisle reached 20.3 feet, nearly five foot higher than previous records.
Peter Brown who had to leave his flooded house in Carlisle the early hours of Sunday morning with his daughter, Rebecca, 15 said: "We got a knock on the door at 5.45am saying we will have to evacuate the premises.
“I literally grabbed a few things, put valuables upstairs. You just watch while your house gets submerged. My living room and staircase is now under water.”
Cars float in the Cockermouth floods
In Keswick, new £6 million flood defences built to withstand 2009 highs of 15.2 feet were overwhelmed when the River Greta surged to 17.4 feet.
The Mayor of Keswick Paul Titley said: “The flood defences were designed for a one in 100 year event and since it's six years since we had the last one, we were sort of surprised that we got one so soon.”
Locals complained that lack of dredging had made the problem worse.
“There was erection of expensive and ineffective glass panels on the wall next to the River Greta in Keswick, but absolutely no dredging of the gravel that has raised the river bed considerably over the last decade or so,” said Philip Walling.
In Eamont Bridge, south of Penrith in Cumbria, 150 people were rescued by the Coastguard from a flooded static caravan park. The village of Braithwaite became completely cut off when its main bridge, the Coledale High Bridge, collapsed as the river burst its banks.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs minister Rory Stewart, who is also the Tory MP for Penrith and the Border, said flooding in his constituency has been "the worst that anybody's experienced" and acknowledged water had "overtopped" existing flood defences.
Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Duke of Lancaster's Regiment
"We're going to look very, very carefully at all the defences up and down Cumbria for exactly that reason,” he said.
“This is a very extreme and unprecedented event, early indications suggest we've passed the UK record on rainfall in Cumbria."
Over the weekend a 90-year-old man was killed after being blown into the side of a moving bus in London amid gale force winds. A second elderly man was also feared dead after falling into the River Kent in Kendal.
Almost 60,000 homes were left without power and Electricity North West confirmed that the majority face shortages for "a number of days" as it works to fix further faults caused by the flooding.
05:30
How the disaster unfolded on Sunday
Click here to recap on a day of drama in which the Army was mobilised as 60,000 homes were left without power and hundreds of families were evacuated.
And here's a quick reminder of how changeable our weather has been over the last few years:
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