Main Street

Things are getting quieter as work teams, from outside of our area ,begin to pack up for a fortnight's holiday. In among the skips and vans our Christmas tree is still standing. Look carefully at the lower branches and you can tell which way the water ran and also how high.

Many children have been affected by the floods but have been helped as much as possible to cope with the upset. Today BBC teams were in school and that will be shown on television tonight or tomorrow we think.


Look what has appeared on every empty building in town. Every primary school child in Cockermouth must have contributed! I found it very moving to see all their messages. Their pictures showed just how much they had taken in of the drama that happened that night!

Click on the picture for a better view.

Less than a fortnight till Christmas

At last some sunshine and no rain! The trees looked fabulous against that blue sky.

Not many preparations for Christmas have been started in this house yet! I can hardly believe that 3 weeks have elapsed since the floods.


Going into town has quickly settled into a whole new experience as everyone adjusts and copes. I didn't realise until this happened what a set route you fall into for going shopping. This has all changed now as very few places are where they were just a few weeks ago.

Christ Church is the hub in the town of the relief effort and now has the police station relocated in a building opposite to them. This C.of E. church itself is now also used by the Catholics, as well as the Red Cross ,the Library and other agencies. One newsagent and a bakers are operating from a lighting centre, the Methodist Chapel is the Food Bank and about 10 businesses have taken over the defunct Job Shop . 14 other small units are being constructed inside an agricultural warehouse and are already being fitted out. All the doctors have now relocated to the Cottage Hospital and nearly all our banks are caravans in Sainsbury’s carpark!

Main Street and the Marketplace are just empty of anything but skips and workmen . There is a constant hum of pumps and dryers as a background to hammering and drilling as properties are dried and mended. There are plans for some shops on Main Street to reopen before Christmas which is wonderful news. The message going out is that we are open for business.

A wishing tree and Christmas lights were lit in the marketplace at the beginning of December but the big town Christmas tree still stands unlit in the middle of the Main Street. It managed to stand defiant to the torrent of water that enveloped it on that Thursday evening. I have heard that there are plans to light it on Christmas Eve with a open air Carol Service accompanied by music from the Town Brass Band.

I think there will be a lot of tears as well as smiles and Christmas greetings at that gathering!

The general spirt of the town is still good and there is much support available. Accomodating so many people whose properties have been damaged has been very difficult. Many went into holiday homes that were lying empty but of course many of them are let out over Christmas and New year so some people are having to house hop several times over the holidays. Not a pleasant experience in winter with a young family or an elderly person either!

Here and there dry humour is showing through!
The Job Shop where many businesses are relocated has a hand written sign to say that it is called "Cockermouth New Main Street". :o)
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If you go to http://www.cockermouth.org.uk/floodupdates.html

There are a couple of videos at the bottom. They both show the Cocker which is the one that goes past us (very close) and just before it cuts to the sheep saving incident it is looking down our lane. Those videos would have been taken mid afternoon .The water rose for another 10 hours or so after that. By the time it was high tide at 1 am the water had risen another couple of metres. We reckon it rose by nearly 30 feet at the end of our lane so it is no wonder our road and river wall have gone! It rose so much higher here because we are in a narrow valley between two areas with flood plains so the water has nowhere else to go but up!

We have no idea how our lane will be fixed ! Three weeks without being able to use the car now. This is an increasing inconvenience but absolutely nothing in comparison to what other people have had to cope with!!!

We are approaching as many agencies as possible for help and hope that the Govenment's promise to mend all roads will hold good for unadopted roads too.

Bounce-back-ability!

A little more of our lane collapsed last night as the river rose again. As expected the river stayed within bounds and I don't think it came back into any properties thank goodness! This morning it is dry and blowing but isn't too cold.
Cockermouth Main Street is really busy today absolutely bursting with vans and lorries, and busy people in fluorescent jackets and hard hats. Hot drinks and snacks were being served out of supermarket trolleys

I couldn't settle last night so got my Bernina busy :o)
The badges raised a smile this morning.


The phrase is the result of an interview on Radio Cumbria with the owner of Percy House, the oldest townshouse in Cockermouth. It is up near Cocker Bridge and had water up to the ceiling at the height of the flood.

A little smile for today :o)

Results of the "Celebrate Summer" competition were in December's "Patchwork & Quilting magazine. I was delighted that our regular newsagent has managed to re-open his shop!

Mind you the title of my quilt seems strangely inappropiate this week!
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The Emergency vehicles have nearly all gone from the Cumbria Fire HQ . Many other vehicles are now appearing on Main Street and Station Street mainly dealing with Gas, Water and Electricity supplies. There are also a lot more TV and media people about complete with cameras and film crews.

We had our first wander into Main Street where work has already begun. Sodden goods were being removed and broken windows boarded up. The road and pavements had obviously been given their first clean but oozing out of the doorways was river silt that had been deposited by the floods. This had obviously been contaminated and was a bit smelly.

We heard some sad stories of flooded homes and the ensuing problems of relocating, but also bits of good news . One bank affected is already operating from a sort of mobile cabin sort of structure. Ten businesses have moved into the empty Job Shop and now have shop signs and proper lighting too. One of the evacuation centres is overflowing with clothes and toiletries that have been donated . Doctor's surgeries have relocated to the Cottage Hospital and a Volunteer Centre has opened at Christ Church. This will be operating almost nonstop food and hot drinks for the emergency workers as well as co-ordinating anything else that will help people to sort out their accomodation.

Even the postman managed to deliver letters today!

There was quite a busy buzz to the place today which was a good feeling.

Monday update.

After being stuck in the house by the weather a lot I was keen to make the most of this afternoon, so went down to start tidying up a little in the lane. I managed to cut back a lot of overhanging stuff and in the process found some big clumps of plants that had been washed from my neighbour's garden.

We still have no idea how/when the lane will be fixed but at the moment our priority will be low in comparison with others and rightly so.

Of course being in the lane I ended up spending half the time chatting with people walking by. At one point we were talking about how good it was to see the Christmas tree managing to stay standing and then I heard that last night some of our lovely Christmas lights had been switched on and the Town Band was playing.

Really disappointed that I missed that, but I guess it sums up the town. :o)

Lane update.

This is a view looking along our lane. Notice how far below the road that the river is today. Now look at all the rubbish along the wire fence and see how it lines up with the bottom of the hedge on the lane. That is the height that the water reached!

The river has dropped so much that you can't even see it on this shot.

This one was taken when the river was higher . Our entrance comes in at right angles to where the tree and the bushes are. Not much room for the sharp turn now!

Just out of interest this is a postcard of the same view in about 1901.

At the end of the lane is the mill written about by Robert Louis Stevenson. Not sure what he would make of the walk now!

The mill was finally demolished about 50 years ago and now is transformed into the garden shown earlier in the video of the river.

Monday

Look at the size of these trees that have been swept downstream and deposited at the bottom of the Harris Park. They give some indication of the height the river reached as it swept through here. If these hadn't got trapped here they might have slammed into bridges downstream like many others and caused severe damage.

Further along more trees have been loosened and are ready to fall into the water. It is a relief to see the water changing colour as it calms down.

Rosie is fascinated by the helicopters which are still regularly overhead.

After we had walked through the park we went down to get the paper. The roads were jammed with traffic as one of the road bridges was opened and traffic is being funnelled through the town. The opened road goes past the HQ of the emergency services which must make it difficult for their vehicles.

The shop owners and residents of the central area are gradually being allowed through to see their properties for the first time since they had to leave on Thursday. Their shock and worry is upsetting to see. Spirits are rallying as they face up to what has to be done to get everything sorted.

Saturday morning

Well the river is back into its bed at last and the damage is gradually being revealed. This is not a mountain track but the lane to our house! Nearly a metre of the lane has gone into the river, along the full length taking with it the hedge and the trees.

I managed to walk all along the Cocker as far as the footbridge which is fenced off and looks in need of major repair. The amount of dead wood that has been collected and dumped is unbelievable. There were strange creaks and groans from trees along the river as they complained at the extra weight of all the stuff that had been caught in their branches.

I went past homes where the owners were sweeping out mud and dumping their belongings, but I would have felt guilty to have taken pictures. When you know the people it seems strangely intrusive to stare at their sodden possessions. It must take a certain objective mindset to be a cameraman for Press or TV.

I did take this one of Challoner Street which has had two very deep holes gouged by the river that has left all the sewer,water and gas pies exposed..

Sainsbury's carpark has been taken over by emergency vehicles as the carparks belonging to the Fire Headquarters and Cockermouth Mountain Rescue are already full. Every service seemed to be there and seemed to have arrived from throughout the country.





There was only one small helicopter in the sky today and the buzz went round that PM Gordon Brown was in it.

There was a difference in the town today as the impact on the community starts to hit home. As far as I could see only Sainsbury's , the Co-op and the butcher's were open and accessible. The vast majority of the rest of the shops are in Main Street and Marketplace and every single one of them has been flooded out.

Those streets are just like empty, very muddy film sets.

Tomorrow was supposed to be the switching on of the Christmas Lights and the judging of the Christmas shop window displays. Normally thousands fill the Main Street to view the display.

Water receding Friday morning

Thursday night was a very tense night as the river rose.We reckon if it had gone up about another foot it would have got into our house. We are very thankful that that didn't happen and our hearts go out to those whose houses and businesses are awash.

All night we saw the lights and heard the noise of the Sea King helicopters evacuating people from the town centre. Many had to cope with power cuts overnight too.

The full range of emergency services worked through the night.

They did an absolutely magnificent job.

This wasn't helped on Friday by people driving into Cockermouth just to look at the devastation!

Cockermouth floods.

Most of the television coverage has shown the river Derwent in flood. We live next to the river Cocker which empties into the Derwent just below Cockermouth castle and Jennings Brewery.

Hence the name of the town !

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This was mid afternoon on Thursday.

The river Cocker had just started to spill onto the lane. We have never seen this happen before !

This was Friday lunchtime

Overnight the river had risen about 5 feet higher than this and when it started to recede took with it nearly all the blackthorn and hawthorn hedge .

It is impossible to assess the safety of the road yet. The river needs to drop about another 12 feet or so before that will be possible.

This is the only we we can drive to our house so guess we are confined to barracks at the moment.

This was Friday lunchtime after the river had gone back down a lot. The drive up to our house is just past the pole.