:00:09. > :00:22.Last winter flooding devastated lives and homes across the north.
:00:23. > :00:31.This is a story of resilience. Of anger. We were told we were not a
:00:32. > :00:37.priority, go move your stuff upstairs, you're going flood. And
:00:38. > :00:39.how the people of Cumbria and Lancashire regrouped and rebuilt.
:00:40. > :01:00.Open! As Storm Desmond approaches, Cumbria
:01:01. > :01:08.police declare a major incident. Stop! Residents in Carlisle are
:01:09. > :01:15.bracing themselves. I am thinking the worst really. The water has
:01:16. > :01:20.breached the city's flood defences. I need to speak to this old couple.
:01:21. > :01:26.We've got a drain in our back garden. It's coming up through the
:01:27. > :01:31.drain in our back garden rather quickly I don't want you to stand
:01:32. > :01:35.out in the cold. Alright. Some people are grabbing what they can
:01:36. > :01:44.and leaving. Not much we can do really. Just get out. Others plan to
:01:45. > :01:48.sit it out. It's just been a bit hectic and my mam's not wanting to
:01:49. > :01:52.move. She didn't even want me moving the stuff up stairs. It's reaching
:01:53. > :02:08.my feet! Methodist Minister Johnny Gios
:02:09. > :02:13.captures life as a modern-day Noah on his phone. This is absolutely
:02:14. > :02:18.bonkers. The floodwater on Sandilands Road is three foot at
:02:19. > :02:22.least. We are at a house in Sandilands Road where we are going
:02:23. > :02:30.carry two children to the church for safety. Are you ready, Chris? This
:02:31. > :02:36.is the community coming together isn't it. Unbelievable. Never ever
:02:37. > :02:44.seen anything like this. Stay away from Kendall, that's all I can say.
:02:45. > :02:50.30 miles away Sue cash more has retreat upstairs. Well, here we are,
:02:51. > :02:57.a repeat of 2009. Just five foot of water in the house at the moment,
:02:58. > :03:03.but I'm sat up here in the dark, candlelight, with my little dog.
:03:04. > :03:12.Fortunately this time, unfortunately this time no insurance. I don't know
:03:13. > :03:31.what we are going to do. Across the north, floods wreak havoc.
:03:32. > :03:49.Daylight and scenes of flooding on a biblical scale.
:03:50. > :04:00.Part of the A 591, the main road through the Lakes, is no longer. The
:04:01. > :04:16.250-year-old bridge that gave Pooley Bridge its name is gone.
:04:17. > :04:25.For Ron and Denise, salvation comes from the RNLI. I'll take your bag.
:04:26. > :04:31.And questions are being asked. We were told that it was going to be
:04:32. > :04:38.after these defences it was a once in a 250 year event. And here we are
:04:39. > :04:49.ten years later, ?38 million and ten years later, a bit of a waste of
:04:50. > :04:55.money I think. Homes are wrecked and so too are businesses. Something's
:04:56. > :05:03.going to have to hangs because every time it rains we are all going to be
:05:04. > :05:12.mad panicking. There was 21 when I opened this salon. Sorry. I worked
:05:13. > :05:42.really hard. But it isn't over. Three weeks later
:05:43. > :05:49.on Boxing Day Lancashire feels the brunt. Sue Proctor's garden centre
:05:50. > :05:53.isn't insured for flooding. It were gushing. It were just like a river
:05:54. > :05:59.coming through. All the car park were filled up. It happened so quick
:06:00. > :06:02.really, as the river's come in it's taken palettes down, shelves over,
:06:03. > :06:08.all the things were going through the door. The glass is cracking in
:06:09. > :06:14.the greenhouse. With the force of the water at the side of the cafe,
:06:15. > :06:20.and basically it were just like sheer devastation. We built it up
:06:21. > :06:23.and yeah, it's just like heartbreaking really to lose it all
:06:24. > :06:41.down the river. The big clean-up begins, rebuilding
:06:42. > :06:46.lives will take much longer. A huge chunk of Alan's garden has been
:06:47. > :06:51.swept away. How water so strong could have ripped the whole of the
:06:52. > :06:54.bank away, it was river bank plus the garden, and taken it all the way
:06:55. > :06:59.Down Under the bridge. I think flooding is going to be here to stay
:07:00. > :07:10.and I think there's going to be a lot more water coming. It started
:07:11. > :07:13.coming in through the front and quickly filling up the back, because
:07:14. > :07:17.we've got quite a slope here. I don't know if you can see right into
:07:18. > :07:21.the back garden but right up to the back step there the level was the
:07:22. > :07:27.same all the way through the garden. We had about three feet of water all
:07:28. > :07:30.the way through the shop. The rain will continue as another band of
:07:31. > :07:34.rain pushes down from the north-west late morning. Again, that is likely
:07:35. > :07:39.to get heavy in places... There is no let-up. Storms continue to batter
:07:40. > :07:46.the north. Heavy and persistent spells of rain overnight and
:07:47. > :07:51.throughout the day tomorrow... Glenridding has flooded four times.
:07:52. > :07:56.Andrew, who runs an outdoor shop, is at the end of his tether. Since the
:07:57. > :08:00.start of September it's been storm after storm after storm. Just as you
:08:01. > :08:05.are getting on top of it, another storm comes, fills the beck up with
:08:06. > :08:11.more water and we have more sleepless nights. It's been ongoing
:08:12. > :08:17.for eight weeks now. And there are few customers around. Here's my cash
:08:18. > :08:21.book. There's a lot of days with no figures here. Didn't take anything
:08:22. > :08:32.there, nothing there, nothing there. It's not happy reading. It's not. In
:08:33. > :08:36.the heart of the Lakes it is eerily quiet, with the A 591 closed
:08:37. > :08:48.Grasmere finds itself at the end of the line. I've only made 26 trays of
:08:49. > :08:51.gingerbread today and I shall be finished at 11 o'clock, whereas
:08:52. > :08:56.normally certainly in the summer we are baking all day every day. We are
:08:57. > :09:01.having to scale it back considerably unfortunately. At the gingerbread
:09:02. > :09:06.shop, three people have lost their jobs, takings are down 20 grand in
:09:07. > :09:13.one month alone. What we are suffering with now is the perception
:09:14. > :09:14.of Cumbria as a whole is closed for business, which it quite clearly
:09:15. > :09:55.isn't. We are very much open. Open!
:09:56. > :10:01.CHEERING. Music to the ears of people in Pooley Bridge, they are
:10:02. > :10:12.reconnected. And then after three... CHEERING. And the main road through
:10:13. > :10:15.the Lakes is back in action. This is an exciting occasion isn't it, it is
:10:16. > :10:18.one of those first signs that Cumbria is beginning to turn the
:10:19. > :10:22.corner after some of the tragedy, difficulty and darkness of the last
:10:23. > :10:26.few months. It is a tremendous occasion and one that everybody will
:10:27. > :10:28.welcome. Remember for a very long time. It's great for the business
:10:29. > :10:55.and for the area. Really pleased. This is the first one in Warwick
:10:56. > :11:00.Road to be offered. Lot 5, 85 to start. The auction in Cumbria is
:11:01. > :11:07.packed as 12 flooded houses are on offer, some listed at half their
:11:08. > :11:14.pre-flood value. 86, 88, 88 bid. 90. 92. And everyone is looking to snap
:11:15. > :11:24.up a bargain. If not I'm selling this at ?94,000. All done, all
:11:25. > :11:29.out... Well done, air. Dave has bought a four bedroom house for
:11:30. > :11:32.?94,000. If I renovated it and it flooded again the very next day I
:11:33. > :11:36.would be in there knocking the plaster off, pulling the kitchen
:11:37. > :11:40.out. I would do it myself. I stand to potentially lose a few thousand
:11:41. > :11:45.pounds in materials but the potential for it to go up in value
:11:46. > :11:50.again in future is far outweighs the possible loss. Our biggest problem
:11:51. > :11:54.at the moment is there are hundreds of properties and there are only so
:11:55. > :11:59.many tradesmen. Clive's flat, which he rents out, is right next to the
:12:00. > :12:05.new flood defences and he had no insurance cover. As a landlord he
:12:06. > :12:10.can't get affordable inSean, so he is looking to sell. I can
:12:11. > :12:14.categorically say if I was able to get some flood insurance in the
:12:15. > :12:22.future I wouldn't be auctioning the flat. I would be doing it up and
:12:23. > :12:31.putting it out for a tenant again. ?43,000, first time, second time,
:12:32. > :12:36.44, new bid per. 45, 46, 47. Half I will take, 46-and-a-half,
:12:37. > :12:42.47-and-a-half? You nodded your headfirst and then shook it. Let me
:12:43. > :12:48.tell you, you might buy it. It might not! You don't know until you try.
:12:49. > :12:52.47 with you, sir. Fourth and final time selling. Are you sure? Well
:12:53. > :12:57.done, Sir. It went very well, as you can see by the smile on my face. Yes
:12:58. > :13:02.I got more than nay reserve by ?3,000. It went for ?47,000 and my
:13:03. > :13:06.reserve was ?44,000, so I'm very pleased. It's been a bit of a worry
:13:07. > :13:38.but someone else's worry now. 200 sleeps since Storm Desmond.
:13:39. > :13:44.Tessa has made it back home. And it's Heaven. Honestly, the simple
:13:45. > :13:51.little things, being able to sit on your own sofa, and go to your own
:13:52. > :13:56.bed, and go to our own bathroom, use your own shower. But the stress of
:13:57. > :14:00.the floods has taken its toll. I don't mind admitting that last night
:14:01. > :14:12.I was in tears on the sofa going, it's great, I'm home, but is it only
:14:13. > :14:21.going to be for six months? Will we be lucky?
:14:22. > :14:34.Tessa's business also flooded and she had only minutes to save what
:14:35. > :14:41.she could from home. Loaded, our two motorbikes into the van, with the
:14:42. > :14:49.cat, my son, his favourite guitar, with an overnight bag and off we
:14:50. > :14:59.drove to my dad's. I have CCTV in the shop, I dialled in and watched
:15:00. > :15:02.my shop go under water. These are screwed to the wall but you can
:15:03. > :15:07.easily pull them forward when they are empty and get behind and watch
:15:08. > :15:11.them. The base units are all moveable. Sue, who was trapped
:15:12. > :15:17.upstairs, has made radical changes to her house. It means in another
:15:18. > :15:20.flood I can just bring my pressure washer in and wash the kitchen out,
:15:21. > :15:25.get my life back quickly. That's the aim. Last year she couldn't afford
:15:26. > :15:35.the insurance for her house but thanks to a new scheme called Flood
:15:36. > :15:39.Re, she has cover. This is a starting point, a first step on the
:15:40. > :15:48.ladder, so I am thrilled that it has happened.
:15:49. > :15:56.But work has only started on Christine's rented house. Everyone
:15:57. > :16:00.on this row, they are all old aged pensioners. It has made a lot of
:16:01. > :16:06.them till, with having to put up with everything, not knowing what's
:16:07. > :16:11.happening. It is final in limbo. We are now in our, what, 8th month? And
:16:12. > :16:17.we were nowhere near it. We just don't know, and it is beginning to
:16:18. > :16:26.get us down. If I didn't have my work, I think I would end up being
:16:27. > :16:41.in hospital by now. It's just so heartbreaking. Yeah.
:16:42. > :16:48.Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming this evening.
:16:49. > :16:51.The frustrations of flooding for a second time in six years boil over
:16:52. > :16:57.at a public meeting. When we told it was a one in 100
:16:58. > :17:06.year flood and we were right next to the flood defences, we were told we
:17:07. > :17:13.were not a priority, go and move your stuff upstairs, you are going
:17:14. > :17:20.to flood. Put defences up. Shut up when I'm speaking... Let all the
:17:21. > :17:25.water come on to Derwent gardens and riverside Terrace. For the man in
:17:26. > :17:31.charge of Cumbria's flood defences it's been a torrid year. The people
:17:32. > :17:35.here in this room have suffered hellish misery yet again having been
:17:36. > :17:39.there before. It is quite fair and reasonable for them to turn up and
:17:40. > :17:44.be both interested and curious about what is going on and what could go
:17:45. > :17:47.on and to be challenging of us and others to ensure we are doing the
:17:48. > :17:59.best for them here in this town. Out and about, Andy knows he's got
:18:00. > :18:08.his work cut out to win over the doubters.
:18:09. > :18:19.Work is going on to clear the rivers ahead of the winter. Everyone is
:18:20. > :18:23.keen to see progress. That's cleared. What will happen is we're
:18:24. > :18:29.going to be worried this year, at Christmas, when this water comes,
:18:30. > :18:34.that enough is... Like many across flooded areas, Allen believes silted
:18:35. > :18:38.rivers and blocked bridges caused much of the damage. We didn't have
:18:39. > :18:42.Christmas last year. With the worry that bridge will allow as much to
:18:43. > :18:48.get through as can. The puddle was formed because it couldn't get under
:18:49. > :18:52.there. As I say County Council will start this week. When they have done
:18:53. > :18:55.their work we will be there and clearing out the channel. You are
:18:56. > :19:00.going to clear out under there. Spot on.
:19:01. > :19:04.What caused all these problems is that bridge. However these educated
:19:05. > :19:08.people try to tell us that it wasn't, we have seen it first-hand.
:19:09. > :19:15.We experienced it. A Flood Re port earlier this year
:19:16. > :19:19.recommended ways to improve flow under the bridge should be
:19:20. > :19:23.investigated. In Cockermouth, much to the relief
:19:24. > :19:26.of the locals, dredging of the river has started. We're doing this
:19:27. > :19:30.because it is the right thing to do. We're doing it mindful that it is
:19:31. > :19:35.reair suring to the public. That is why we're doing it as publically as
:19:36. > :19:56.we can to show we are doing this work, why and where we're doing it.
:19:57. > :20:02.Evidence of flooding is easy to spot.
:20:03. > :20:06.Just over here on the right-hand side on this tree, you can see a
:20:07. > :20:11.blue ribbon is around the tree. That is marking, it has been put on by a
:20:12. > :20:16.community group to show how high the water got. They were rightly very
:20:17. > :20:21.keen that as the weeks and months passed that people shouldn't forget
:20:22. > :20:24.how bad things got. But for Tessa, who has moved in back
:20:25. > :20:28.at home, there's been a change of heart.
:20:29. > :20:35.It was delightful to get home, but it felt like it was on borrowed
:20:36. > :20:39.time. When it starts raining again, will it happen again? It is just
:20:40. > :20:46.psychologically I knew I couldn't deal with that and go through it
:20:47. > :20:50.again. We made the decision we have to sell up, so we did. Not that
:20:51. > :20:54.we've got ?70,000 to throw away. To me, I couldn't go through that
:20:55. > :21:07.again. It was a no-brainer. Walk away, it's not my problem any more.
:21:08. > :21:16.Allen is definitely staying put. But taking matters into his own hands.
:21:17. > :21:20.With all the protection I've put in, that's the rock, the flood boards
:21:21. > :21:24.are going on the front and these pumps in each doorway entrance, we
:21:25. > :21:31.should stand a good chance of it not going through the same impact as we
:21:32. > :21:36.have on boxing day. Let's hope so. Welcome, everyone. Thank you so much
:21:37. > :21:42.for giving your Friday up, whether it is a morning a couple of hours...
:21:43. > :21:47.Johnnie from the Methodist Church is not waiting for divine intervention.
:21:48. > :21:56.He's found people to perform a minor miracle.
:21:57. > :22:00.We are just helping out paint this house and help the people get back
:22:01. > :22:06.on their feet, really. People are still in their houses.
:22:07. > :22:11.Whereas we go back to our nice warm houses. We want them to be in theirs
:22:12. > :22:19.as well. They're getting on very quickly. Quicker than what I thought
:22:20. > :22:24.they would. They're doing well. I heard about this opportunity.
:22:25. > :22:29.Jumped at the chance, thought, we'll do whatever we want them to do. Is
:22:30. > :22:33.so, it is this lovely lady's garden. I didn't know where to start. I
:22:34. > :22:42.looked, I thought I don't know where to start. It is fantastic.
:22:43. > :22:46.Even the Bishop of Penrith is out again to lift the spirits. This is a
:22:47. > :22:50.gift from the local community. It's been a bit of a rough time recently.
:22:51. > :22:54.I wanted to bring a little bit of joy and smile into people's lives.
:22:55. > :23:00.Oh, thanks very much. A bowl of flowers. My wife will love that.
:23:01. > :23:04.Ours got washed away. Thank you very much. You are very welcome. Would
:23:05. > :23:29.you like me to leave it outside? That is really nice. Thank you.
:23:30. > :24:02.Andrew from the gingerbread shop is looking to the future.
:24:03. > :24:06.From the first day that the road had reopened it's not skipped a beat. As
:24:07. > :24:11.I always said, every day counted. And I was proven right. From the
:24:12. > :24:17.first day we hit target and we've not missed beats since then.
:24:18. > :24:26.The record won't be broken today. It is too slippy up. They have run
:24:27. > :24:47.well. Here they come. What a fantastic finish!
:24:48. > :24:55.A lot of good features. Nothing draft. Nothing gymicy. I am down on
:24:56. > :24:59.last year, but not massively down. People in February were coming in
:25:00. > :25:02.saying they would get a pair of gloves and socks to support us. If
:25:03. > :25:07.they needed them or not, just to help us out. It has been a good year
:25:08. > :25:17.this year - people keen to support us. It's been good.
:25:18. > :25:21.Since we got refurbished it has been great. It seems the shop is lighter
:25:22. > :25:26.in colour. People have noticed us more. Probably helped we had quite a
:25:27. > :25:30.lot of publicity for the village. Thicks have been good. Better than
:25:31. > :25:35.before -- things have been good. Better than before, I would say. It
:25:36. > :25:39.is classed in the region of ?30,000. More. You cannot put a definite
:25:40. > :25:43.price on it because of the amount of stuff we lost. It was a bit quiet to
:25:44. > :25:44.start with when we first reopened. People obviously thought we were
:25:45. > :25:58.still shut. Overall, we've been OK. Autumn, and plenty of colour in the
:25:59. > :26:30.lakes. It is great to welcome all these
:26:31. > :26:39.visitors to our village. It's lovely. Really good.
:26:40. > :26:45.To see everybody get together like this again, to see Pooley Bridge
:26:46. > :26:50.full again, it is fantastic. It is lovely to see so many people
:26:51. > :26:53.here on such a positive occasion. Having had so much trauma over the
:26:54. > :26:57.last year. It is just wonderful to get people
:26:58. > :27:06.to the village, isn't it? Involved in something like. This. The weather
:27:07. > :27:12.stayed great for us. After a year of hard work and heartbreak for some,
:27:13. > :27:18.one thought is never far away. Something needs to be done with the
:27:19. > :27:22.flood defences now. Or we could be standing here next Christmas with
:27:23. > :27:32.four feet of water, or maybe six feet of water.
:27:33. > :27:37.I remember looking out the window watching the river come up and up
:27:38. > :27:47.and up. Every time it rains I do dread it.
:27:48. > :27:52.It is a worry. You don't know if it will happen again. If it happens
:27:53. > :27:57.again, I don't think we can survive this time.
:27:58. > :28:04.People who didn't talk to each other, next door neighbours, talk to
:28:05. > :28:09.each other, ask how they are doing, look out for each other. In people's
:28:10. > :28:10.minds and attitude, the flood is still around and reminders of that
:28:11. > :28:22.flood are still around. My son said to me the other day, do
:28:23. > :28:25.you think we'll have a Christmas tree this year. That's like, wow!
:28:26. > :28:32.Yeah, hopefully.