BBC Radio Cumbria says the radiology department at Cumberland Infirmary is still without power. It is also warning patients the department is unable to contact them directly.

Just in from our political correspondent Carole Walker,   Defra says it is aware of 2,100 homes affected by the flooding so far. As checks are still being made, that figure could rise.

Cumbria Police Supt Mark Pannone told the BBC earlier he thought there were as many as 5,000 flooded properties.

A bit more from John Leyland, deputy director of operations at the Environment Agency. 

He said the amount of rainfall was "beyond the forecasts and beyond the models".

The model the EA uses which triggers flood warnings does not account for persistent heavy rain, Mr Leyland added, so the agency was now going to look again at that model.

John Leyland, deputy director of operations at the Environment Agency, has rejected criticism over the failed flood defences, on BBC Radio Cumbria.

Image source, John Hughes

A 15-year-old girl has been critically injured after she and three other young people were swept into the sea off the Irish coast during Storm Desmond.

She was with a Dublin-based scout group at Hook Head, County Wexford, when a large wave swept them off rocks and into the water on Sunday afternoon.

Two of the four managed to swim to shore, but the girl and a 15-year-old boy were winched to safety by an Irish Coast Guard helicopter.

They were both taken to hospital. 

More advice from Virgin Trains: "Passengers with tickets north of Carlisle on Monday 7th December are advised that their tickets will be valid for travel when a normal service is expected to resume."

A heads-up for later. We've just been told there'll be a government statement on flooding at 1530 GMT in the Commons.

Victoria Derbyshire

Andy Beeforth, from the Cumbria Community Foundation, which helped with the clear-up after the last floods in the region in 2009, has been talking to the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme. 

Asked whether all the money spent on flood defences after that crisis was worth it, he replies: "I think it's too early to tell, but I think the general view is they have helped... it buys people time to react and get out. 

"I think it's just been truly exceptional."

Image source, Getty

Many roads have been left impassable by the flooding and in some cases, motorists have been left stranded. Rescue service the AA says it has 50 patrols in action across Cumbria and has brought in special 4x4 resources to help with more than 70 breakdowns. 

Edmund King, AA president, said: 

Prime Minister David Cameron is to visit areas hit by flooding. The announcement came after he chaired the government's Cobra meeting.

The rail and road network in northern England and Scotland has been severely disrupted. No services will run between Carlisle and Scotland on Monday due to flooding and a landslip. This section of the West Coast Main Line is expected to be closed until Wednesday. Virgin Trains warned passengers, external that no replacement road transport will be available.

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

The government's emergency Cobra meeting has just broken up and the big question now is whether more needs to be done in the future to prevent flooding. Folk I've spoken to in government this morning say the defences in Cumbria have done a good job of reducing the damage done and giving people more time.

Nevertheless, there will still be huge pressure on the government to do more. The questions is, what level of funding are you going to provide to mitigate against something that happens so very infrequently? I thought Floods Minister Rory Stewart seemed to be suggesting this morning that this was effectively a unique situation and the government would not be adding to money already allocated for defences.

For more detailed information on the situation locally, BBC Radio Cumbria has rolling coverage of the floods - listen on Carlisle 95.6FM, Kendal 95.4FM or South Cumbria 96.1FM.  BBC Radio Lancashire is also on air with floods coverage - in the Lancaster area, it's 104.5FM. 

Image source, The Boudoir Boutique

Northern Ireland also felt the force of Storm Desmond over the weekend. Rescue teams helped to bring 24 people to safety and flood water is thought to have damaged millions of pounds worth of stock at the Linen Green shopping complex, above, near Dungannon, County Tyrone.

Stormont's environment minister Mark H Durkan has activated emergency payments of £1,000 for householders affected by heavy rainfall and flooding.  

BBC Breakfast

Floods Minister Rory Stewart, who's in Carlisle, says he's confident all those in the city whose homes were flooded are safe. 

On the question of whether flood defences have worked, he says those in Carlisle have not been breached but overtopped - something that's inevitable given Storm Desmond brought  "the highest rainfall we've ever had". 

But he says the government will look at whether anything more can be done:

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

"You can never protect everybody all of the time," Sir James Bevan says - it's a question of "judgements" about where to allocate resources.

Asked if the Environment Agency has all the money it needs to provide the best possible defences, he says yes - despite big cuts elsewhere to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' budget.

"We have that confirmed capital investment of £2.3bn... we will use that to build more flood defences around the country."

Sir James rejects any suggestion that flooding would be taken more seriously if it was happening in the south of England.