A football club has been collecting toys to help the flood victims in Cumbria.

A massive number of toys have been donated to Blyth Spartans and representatives of the club are driving a van full of Christmas cheer to the county today.

It was the idea of Spartans' fan John Parker, who has also arranged free transport.

He said: "I just thought the football club could do something after the terrible floods over there and with Christmas coming up providing toys might help in some way."

The man in charge of Carlisle's McVitie's biscuit factory has reaffirmed the company's commitment to the city - in spite of the site flooding for the second time in less than a decade.

Prince Charles visited the site yesterday, which employs about 800 people, and was shown around by the general manager, Mike Heaney. 

Afterwards Mr Heaney told BBC Radio Cumbria it would be many weeks before the factory re-opens, but it would produce biscuits again.  

There's a map of the diversion around the damaged Eamont Bridge on Cumbria County Council's website., external

It creates a one-way system to get round problems with the earlier route.

The bridge sustained serious damage in the floods, according to highways engineers.  They're currently assessing whether it can be repaired.

People are putting their own lives at risk by trying to see the way floods tore apart the A591 near Thirlmere, police say.

They say increasing numbers of people are ignoring signs saying the roads are closed, and even moving barriers to get a closer look.

The council's now installing security fencing.  

A spokesman said sightseers were "costing the council time and money when it had so much else to be dealing with."

North West Evening Mail
Newspaper

The sister of a man jailed for more than 12 years after attacking his ex-girlfriend and carrying out a knifepoint raid has spoken out to give “his side of the story”.  , external

Image source, North West Evening Mail

Durham Police say the A66 trans pennine route has been reopened to high-sided vehicles and caravans. 

BBC Cumbria

Greta Bridge in Keswick has been closed. 

Cumbria County Council says very high water levels are causing concern.

People are being asked to stay away.  

Sir David Attenborough has told how he fell off while climbing in the Lake District as a young man, and thought he might die.

Image source, PA

Sir David, who's 89, told the ITV programme Good Morning Britain he'd fallen 30-40 feet (10-13m).

"I used to be a mad rock climber - I mean, an obsessive rock climber. And I fell off in the Lake District... And I was absolutely sure I was going to die."

Sir David said he gave up climbing when he got married. 

Twitter user @LevensGardener is Chris Crowder, who's been tending the famous topiary at the Elizabethan house at Levens Hall for more than 26 years.

He was standing close to a post where the levels reached by great floods are marked. Fortunately the water didn't approach those levels and is now dropping.

BBC Travel

The A6 is closed by flooding between the A590 junction at Levens, and Moss Side Road on the Heversham bypass.  

The A591 is still flooded in a number of places.  

The A66 is now flooded between Portinscale and Dubwath, west of Keswick.

Get the latest updates here.

The latest forecast is that the rain is now slacking off, and should die out over the next hour or two.  You can find more details here.

Some river levels will keep rising, for example at Appleby.

You can see the latest flood warnings from the Environment Agency here., external

But there's no heavy rain forecast for the next five days on the current forecast.

BBC Cumbria

The Environment Agency says the River Eden at Appleby is continuing to rise and is expected to enter The Sands area this afternoon.

However it says the River Kent at Burneside has peaked and has started to fall.

Get the latest on flood warnings here, external.

The A591 through South Cumbria between Kendal and Ambleside is badly flooded in a number of places.

Robin Love, the sub-postmaster at Ambleside, said a relatively short distance took him 40 minutes before he begged a lift from a larger vehicle at White Cross Bay.

He told BBC Radio Cumbria: "I didn't want to risk going through and blowing my engine up because there were several cars there that had met that fate. The rain has just never stopped, we're getting fed up with it now, it's affecting our business."

The latest travel news is here. The Environment Agency has nine flood warnings in place, external.

Glenridding has been badly hit by more flooding. The Glenridding Hotel has now been flooded three times since the start of December, and this morning contractors had to rescue their equipment in areas they'd been trying to repair.

Image source, Glenridding Hotel

Image source, Glenridding Hotel

Further up the beck, a digger is try to shore up shingle banks to hold the water back.

Image source, Glenridding Hotel

There are now 11 flood warnings in place in Cumbria., external

The latest relates to the River Eamont at Pooley Bridge.

Lauren sent us these photos of Keswick:

Martin Lewes
Reporter

The beck at Glenridding is also rising again.  

The owner of the Glenridding hotel, facing flooding for the third time, has just posted on Facebook that he's feeling defeated after 2ft of water swamped the property., external

Here's what the area looked like two weeks ago:

Police have just warned people with cars parked in New Road in Kendal to move them to higher ground.