Last updated at 16:57, Wednesday, 28 November 2012

PATIENTS have started to return to St Mary’s Hospice after being evacuated during Thursday’s floods.

Eight patients were moved from the Ulverston hospice when rising floodwaters threatened the centre.

Chief executive Sue McGraw said the swift recovery would not have been possible without the “wonderful” support of the community and emergency services.

“We’re back to normal thanks to an army of supporters and volunteers,” she said yesterday.

Meanwhile, Ulverston residents have told how only a few simple sandbags stood between safety and disaster. Hours of torrential rain overwhelmed Dragley Beck and transformed Lund Terrace into a raging waterway.

Lune Terrace residents Andrew and Jackie Harrison’s front garden was under more than a foot of water and they began to worry about whether their defences would hold. Mr Harrison said: “I think it was only because it stopped raining when it did that we were spared. It was the worst flooding here since 2009.”

While the Harrisons were among the lucky ones, down the road Rascals Day Nursery and Preschool is facing a damage bill of tens of thousands of pounds. Clean-up company, the Skipton-based ISS Restoration, was in the process of gutting the premises yesterday as a recovery, expected to take months, continued apace.

“We can’t have any risk of contamination, so we’re pulling up all the lino, skirting boards and walls up to a point,” ISS site manager Sean Kershaw said.

“When that’s done, we’ll get a rapid drying system in that heats the place to 80 degrees for a week to dry it all out.

“Then we’ll be able to get the reconstruction up and running.”

First published at 16:32, Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk