Search on for man in Kendal floodwater

The Environment Agency said the level of the River Eden in Appleby has peaked and the water is slowly receding

Search teams are trying to find an elderly man thought to have fallen into floodwater in Cumbria.

Emergency services were alerted to a possible sighting of a man falling into the River Kent at Staveley Road in Kendal at about 10:00 GMT.

Meanwhile, Pooley Bridge, on the B5320 near Penrith, has collapsed, according to reports.

There are currently 47 severe flood warnings in place for Kendal, Keswick, Cockermouth, Carlisle and Appleby.

The BBC is running a Local Live page providing updates on the weather and flooding.

Emergency services have been rescuing people and animals across Cumbria

Flooding started on Saturday as Storm Desmond brought more than a month's worth of rain in just 24 hours.

Cumbria Police declared it a major incident and said all emergency services were stretched.

Water is receding in many places although torrents of water are now reaching towns like Carlisle, downriver from the areas hit worst overnight.

The government's emergency Cobra committee met to oversee the deployment of troops and other resources in Cumbria to help people after the floods.

The flooding has been caused by Storm Desmond

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said the level of rainfall had been "unprecedented" and billions of pounds will be spent on improving flood defences.

About 4,000 homes are without power and Electricity North West will start planned outages for a further 5,000 at a time from 16:00 GMT to protect the overall supply to 60,000 homes after floodwaters hit a substation in Carlisle.

The army sent 350 troops to Carlisle to help evacuate homes while a Chinook helicopter was used to move pumping equipment to a substation

The planned outages are expected to last up to three hours.

Carlisle's hospital is running on a back-up generator and the trust that runs it, North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, has declared an internal major incident.

Many parts of Carlisle suffered extensive flooding

The West Coast main rail line north of Carlisle will remain closed for several days after 8ft of water flooded the railway.

The depth of the water, about two miles north of Carlisle station, has reached its peak but is not expected to clear until Tuesday.

About 200 homes were evacuated in Keswick after the water overwhelmed flood defences which had been built following major floods in 2009.

Mayor Paul Titley said: "We'd rather have a one-in-100-year flood every 100 years, not every six - we were a bit surprised to get another one so soon.

Residents across Cumbria were advised to go to reception centres for shelter and support

"I think the [flood defences] did work, but they were completely overwhelmed by the amount of rainwater we had.

"The river was 5.4m above ground - in 2009 it was 4.6m."

Flood defences built in Keswick in 2009 were unable to cope with the amount of water and debris

Water levels are now believed to have peaked across Cumbria with about 2,000 homes and premises expected to have been flooded.

The forecast for Sunday night is largely dry with patchy rain.

Water levels are now believed to have peaked across Cumbria

However there are yellow warnings for rain from about 17:00 on Monday until Tuesday morning.

A Met Office spokesman said: "Whilst this rain will neither be as heavy nor as prolonged as recent rain, please be aware that in view of the saturated nature of the ground and high river levels further localised flooding and disruption to transport is possible."

The clean-up operation for more than 2,000 homes and businesses has now begun