A "CRUCIAL" piece of infrastructure that residents say made flooding worse is due to be replaced this week.

Towns and village across Cumbria felt the effects of the high winds and torrential rain brought by Storm Callum, with floods causing disruption to drivers and other travellers.

Several roads were left impassable by flooding in Barrow, Ulverston, Millom and the South Lakes.

In Millom, flood water left residents "millimetres away from disaster" after water levels stopped mercifully short of entering homes.

Residents in the town, which was last ravaged by floods only 54 weeks ago, blame drains, gullies and other infrastructure for exacerbating the flood levels.

A flap valve, which directs the flow of water through Crook Pool, a small river close to the coast, will be replaced by Cumbria County Council contractors this week.

Joan Newton, who lives in Mainsgate Road in the town, said she was one of the worst hit when flooding entered her home last year.

This time, she enlisted the help of fire crew and farmers to pump water away from her garden and said the flood valve was one of the main culprits in causing many of Millom's streets to be submerged by flood water.

She said the valve was "totally to blame" for the levels of flooding.

"This is exactly what I said it would do after the same thing happened to us last year.

"We were OK until high tide and then it pushed all the water back up the drains.

"After this new valve I am relieved I will be able to sleep when it rains."

Millom's mayor Jane Micklethwaite said: "It is clear that are drains are antiquated and something needs to be done."

A county council spokesman confirmed the valve at Crook Pool was in the process of being replaced.

He said gullies in the areas affected last year had been cleaned as part of a routine maintenance plan in May.

He added Millom's drainage system was part of system where highways drains flowed into a United Utilities system which came out at se and said water levels rose with heavy rain at high tide.