Last updated at 14:09, Friday, 06 July 2012

SOUTH Cumbria has experienced its second bout of flash-flooding within a week after up to 18mm of rain fell in a dra matic deluge on Wednesday – and there’s more to come.

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The downpour left people from Barrow to Bowness scrambling to protect their homes and businesses from yet another drenching.

One of the worst hit areas was the tourist town of Bowness, where a blocked drain in Glebe Road left visitors paddling through effluent-riddled waters.

Police were called out to sandbag Bowness Tourist Information Centre at about 7pm before the rain eventually subsided and waters receded.

Bowness resident Gordon Shoosmith claimed the poor drainage in the town threatened to harm the tourist trade.

He said that two years ago the information centre was flooded and had to be shut for about six months at the peak of the tourist season.

Mr Shoosmith said United Utilities knew there was a problem with the drainage as it was part-way through a £5m repair project.

However, he said the company had stopped work until next winter as it did not want to disrupt either the Olympic torch relay or summer tourist trade.

“It’s the main tourist hub and yet we get effluent floating around on a regular basis,” he said.

The Met Office’s Walney Island station recorded 12mm of rain fell on Wednesday but although most Barrow homes were spared the extensive flooding of last week, there were problems on Hollow Lane and Hecotr street when a drain burst open and a thunderstorm left pavements on Abbey Road under water.

Some residents in West Avenue were counting the cost yesterday when blocked drains contributed to a “torrent” of water flowing down Jesmond Avenue and flooding their homes. West Avenue resident Greg McKenna said the water, which was about a foot high, got in under his house through vents in the bricks and ruined some items in his garage that were to be donated to the British heart Foundation.

“United Utilities have been pretty good by being out here, working away at all hours of the night,” he said.

The Met Office has issued a ‘yellow warning’ for rain today (Friday) and Saturday, saying heavy and persistent rain is likely to extend across most areas, leading to some surface water issues with perhaps localised flooding and possible disruption to travel.

First published at 13:47, Friday, 06 July 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk