Summary

  • Police searching for a missing man find a body in the River Kent near Kendal, in Cumbria

  • Met Office confirms record rainfall fell on Cumbria in 24 hours - 341.4mm

  • As many as 5,000 homes in Northern England and southern Scotland flooded

  • Power has been lost to 42,000 properties in the Lancaster area and more than 1,400 in Cumbria are also without power

  • Schools closed and hospital services cancelled. Road and rail travel also disrupted

  • David Cameron has visited the flood-hit region and has chaired an emergency Cobra meeting

Live Reporting

  1. Emergency services update for Lancashire

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  2. Cable care service shut due to high winds

    The Emirates Air Line cable car service over the River Thames between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks has been shut due to high winds

  3. Cumbria police: Water will reach peak at noon tomorrow

    Cumbria Police have said flood levels are expected to reach their peak tomorrow at midday and water may flow over the flood defences.

    In an updated statement the police said flooding had taken place in certain areas of Carlisle, including Denton Holme and the racecourse.

    A reception centre in Carlisle is on standby to open tomorrow morning, the force said.   

  4. 'Raging torrent into the village'

    Geoff Mawdsley, 49, who is the owner of the Coledale Inn in the village of Braithwaite in Cumbria, described a "raging torrent going into the village", and said a wall of the Coledale High Bridge had simply "gone".

    "I've driven into the village and there is four to five feet of water in the middle of the village where people would usually be walking around. The river has broken its banks and there is debris all over the roads. You can't go any further or it would just smash your car up. Both bridges are now unusable, and we can only hope they won't be condemned on Monday as that will destroy our business.

  5. RNLI called in to help

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  6. Rain is 'falling on saturated ground'

    Storm Desmond is the fourth named storm to strike the UK in recent weeks.

    The three previous ones were:

    * Storm Abigail, which took place on 12-13 November

    * Storm Barney which happened on 17 November

    *Storm Clodagh which fell on 29 November

    BBC weather forecaster, Sarah Keith-Lucas, says because of the previous three storms, which have fallen on "similar areas", the rain from storm Desmond is hitting "very saturated ground".

    She said: "That's why it's causing so many problems. 

    "But it's also the duration of the rainfall." 

    "It's been raining there in Cumbria for 24 hours or more already and we're likely to see about another 12 hours of rainfall still to come.

    Sarah Keith-Lucas, BBC weather forecaster

  7. Sheep rescue

    Members of the fire service rescue sheep from the River Petteril at Calthwaite, Cumbria,PA

    Fire crews were even rescuing sheep earlier, after the animals found themselves caught up in the flooding.

    This picture was taken from the banks of the River Petteril at Calthwaite, Cumbria.

  8. Cumbria Police: Motorists still getting stuck

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  9. Video: The views of Keswick residents

    Here is a short video of what residents in Keswick, Cumbria, think of the floods.

  10. Stormy seas in County Galway, Ireland

    Storm Desmond is making its way across Ireland too, with the west and south worst affected.

    A storm hits the coast in County Galway, IrelandEVN

    Choppy seas in County Galway

    A storm hits the coast in County Galway, IrelandEVN

    Roads have been flooded in the storm-hit areas

  11. Bridge collapses

    News just in - Coledale Bridge near Braithwaite in Cumbria has collapsed.

  12. Five people rescued from house in Appleby

    Adrian Dargue, from Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service, said his team rescued a group of people from Appleby in Cumbria.

    We effected a very safe rescue of the five people, within roughly about half an hour. It was a physical rescue, from the first floor, down into the safety of the boat. The guys worked tirelessly for up to 14 hours, and they've worked extremely well under difficult conditions, so I'm very proud of them."

  13. Don't take any risks, advises environment agency

    Clare Dinnis, a flood expert with the Environment Agency, has this advice for those in at risk areas.

    Shifting valuable belongings, or important personal documentation, passports, that kind of thing, upstairs, to upper levels, making sure that it's protected. Keeping an eye out for vulnerable neighbours, or family members and above all not taking risk, not going to swollen river banks, not driving through flood water, as little as 30cm can be enough to wash a car away"

  14. The prime minister tweets

  15. Live flood warning map

    A reminder you can check for floods in your area using this interactive map. 

    A map showing flooding across the UKCreated by Shoothill (Copyright © 2012-2015

  16. Latest updates from BBC Weather

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  17. Waters likely to continue to rise - BBC Weather

    Our colleagues at BBC Weather gave us this update:

    - With the rain due to stop tomorrow morning (about 04:00 GMT-06:00), we expect Cumbrian rivers to continue to see waters rise for a further six hours

    - The Scottish Borders also have a red severe weather warning in force; we are expecting the heaviest of rain to cease by a similar timeframe

    - This rainfall event has the potential to be near record or even record breaking but this is too soon to confirm

  18. 'What happened to Cumbria flood defences?'

    Cumbria has seen flooding before - November 2009 was a particularly bad year. Since then defences have been built, but one woman in Keswick, quoted on the BBC News Channel, is concerned they have already been breached.

    We're supposed to be protected against a one in a hundred year flood. [Yet] six years after they did the design... I'm wondering how many times this is going to happen"

  19. More severe flood warnings for northern England

    There are now 42 severe flood warnings across the northern England, the Environment Agency says. 

    Another two are in place for Scotland.

  20. Weather and travel information on Twitter

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