Storms over Cumbria 2

More photographs and reports, this time from cousin Julian. He reports on his own village, and several others in the area:

“We are all ok here up the hill in Greenodd, however Penny Bridge, Spark Bridge all closed for now awaiting inspection. Bluemills Bridge parapets gone and as you can see from the photos, Whitewater hotel awash and most if not all of the timeshare apartments flooded. New houses on the ironworks site didn't seem too bad, the footbridge might still be in place but it's hard to tell. Swan Hotel / Lakeside Hotel (Newby Bridge) also badly flooded

Julian also sent me more photographs - below.

Almost all of the national media coverage has focused solely on the damage and disruption in Cockermouth and Workington, with little recognition of the effects elsewhere in the county. So it was good to see the Guardian run a live news blog today, with breaking news items and short pieces on matters across the wider Lake District. One of those pieces (see 11.56) featured Martin Wainwright, the paper’s northern editor, talking with my cousin Richard Bevins

11.56am: 
Martin Wainwright has been speaking to Richard Bevins, who used to manage the river Levens between the southern tip of Windermere and Greenodd on Moercambe Bay. He said the flooding was 2ft higher the than the previous high-water mark.

He said: "The sheer amount of water would have overwhelmed any imaginable defences. The 19th century plaque on Bluemills Bridge, marking the previous high-water mark, was at least two feet below the surface of this flood. The water's gone down now and people are going back into their properties where there's a lot of damage."

The Swan hotel, at the foot of Windermere, was flooded and worse damage was down to the Waterside, a little further down the Leven, which has always used its normally idyllic position by the Leven to attract visitors. The restaurant there was deep underwater at the height of the flood and timeshare cottages at the back of the hotel were inundated. Bevins said: "My family have managed this river for five generations. I've seen something that my great great grandfather never saw."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2009/nov/23/flooding-weather