Last updated at 15:31, Tuesday, 24 November 2009

AS both Windermere and Coniston burst their banks late last week, people living in the Lake District were today bracing themselves for more rainfall.

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Damage in Cumbria is estimated to run into tens of millions of pounds as river levels rose to their highest in the county for at least 1,000 years.

Surveying the damage outside his business, one hotelier described the conditions as being like Armageddon, while in Coniston the Dunkirk Spirit was shown as villagers rallied together in their battle against the aggressive forces of Mother Nature.

At Water Yeat, the full force of the River Crake ripped a huge chunk from the heart of Bouthray Bridge, causing more heartache for the locals.

And at Windermere Marina Village the Shepherds boatyard offices were under 4ft of water at one point, according to one eyewitness.

Further up the lake, Windermere Lake Cruises will not be fully operational until Thursday.

Steamers were suspended over the weekend due to the swollen lake and the firm’s piers and ticket offices were badly flooded.

A Windermere Lake Cruises spokeswoman said: “Between now and Thursday we are going to be running a limited service, mainly circular trips from Bowness.”

At Ambleside, Scott Cowap of the Wateredge Inn had been devastated as the swollen lake poured into his hotel with water reaching a height of around 5ft. He and his family have run the business for 27 years.

Mr Cowap said: “We have just lost everything, it is like being hit by a steamroller. It was Armageddon.”

Mr Cowap was hoping the inn would reopen next Easter. He said: “It’s been horrendous. It breached roughly about one on the Friday and came in the lower building, and within four hours it rose at least three to four foot, and it just kept on going.”

He estimates the cost of repair and loss of trade to be around half-a-million pounds.

The insurers, he said, had been very good.

Mr Cowap said: “We’ve been here 27 years and it had never flooded before until last year. “It breaches every year, it comes on the lawn but it’s never been in here until last year and I only just got the job finished in April and then it’s done it again. The last bill cost in the region of about £150,000.

“In a perfect world if we’re up and going by Easter that would be good.”

Phil Dixon, of the Bluebird Cafe at Coniston has run his business for 27 years.

He said at worst the water was around two feet high throughout the building.

“I am surprised how the structure has held together, it’s pretty good testament to the building,” he said. “We’re just working day by day really trying to get things dried out and get back to normal.”

Mr Dixon is hoping to be up and running in two to three weeks.

He said: “I am waiting for the assessor to come. There are lots of people worse off than us. I’ve never had the water in the building before.”

Close to Yewdale Bridge in Coniston village Alan Woodend, 77, and his wife Dorothy, 79, had several heaters downstairs blasting out warmth to dry the floor and lower walls after the nearby beck had burst its banks, spilling water into their home.

Looking at the beck yesterday, Mr Woodend said: “I think that water is seven foot lower than it was at the height of the floods.

“It started coming into the house between 9am and 9.30am on Thursday.

“I was outside in my dressing gown and slippers with a spade digging a trench to try and keep the water out, but it came up through the floor right by the skirting boards.”

All the carpets on the ground floor were removed after the water rose to about four inches in his house. Mr Woodend added: “We were stood there, three of us with brushes, and we kept the water levels down.”

Over the road, at Yewdale Bridge Farm, Maureen Fleming’s yard had been ripped apart by the flooding, but her brother George had prepared the home for it beforehand by protecting it with boards and sandbags.

Miss Fleming, 66, recalled flooding in the area in 1950 when they had three feet of water through the house which she said was worse than last week.

She said there was four feet of water in the cellar on this occasion, and firefighters pumped it out, but within two hours it had filled again.

“It was an inch of coming into the kitchen,” she said.

She agreed the Dunkirk Spirit was shown by the community. Miss Fleming said: “Lots of people called to see how we were getting on and if we wanted any help. If the other beck had come out we couldn’t have done anything.”

Anne Hall, of Churchbeck, escaped any flooding but she said within an hour of it occurring, a number firms offered to provide sandbags.

Coniston Tourist Information Centre was used as an emergency centre during the floods, she added.

Water lapped around holiday homes at Windermere Marina Village on Monday, and Carl Love, who works in boat sales for Shepherds described the conditions as “carnage.”

He said: “It’s been horrible, absolutely horrible but at least we will get through it.”

Shepherds’ managing director Tony Rothwell, responsible for the boatside of the business, believes it will be three months before they can return to the offices.

“We have got 30 boats sunk in the moorings,” he said. “We were just part of the lake.”

His secretary Kate Strike said: “We got a canoe and paddled to the door on Friday morning.”

Although the nearby Beech Hill hotel had not been directly affected by the flooding, general manager Jonathan Allan, of Walney, had to use his wife Emma’s 4x4 to bring in staff from the Windermere area.

He said: “As far as business is concerned we are open as usual. I just spent my time in the 4x4 bringing staff in.

“It is important to keep the operation as normal as possible.”

First published at 12:55, Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk