Last updated at 12:59, Tuesday, 13 January 2009

Schoolchildren had to be evacuated after flooding hit the village of Crosby-on-Eden.

Flooding at Crosby-on-Eden

The rivers Irthing and Eden burst their banks after a hide tide combined with heavy rains, with villagers describing how water started to come down Newby Lane into the village from around 10am yesterday.

Both the primary school and local nursery school evacuated pupils to the village hall shortly after 1pm. Fortunately neither building flooding as the flood defences held.

Water inched its way across the school playground to the front door, but stopped short of entering the building.

For the rest of the villagers, it was also a close call.

Fire crews spent the afternoon and into the evening pumping water back from the village, which was inaccessible from the High Crosby side, with one house flooded.

“We’ve not flooded, but it’s been a close escape,” said Maria Sedgwick, who runs Crosby Nursery with husband James. “We didn’t know when it was going to stop. It has to be extreme for the nursery to flood, but just to be safe we phoned all the parents.

“The water came very rapidly but it seems to be going back down now.”

The family have been badly hit by floods in the past. They lost everything in the 2005 floods, including their restaurant business Meat and Two Veg.

Maria added: “We moved all our furniture just in case because last time we lost everything.

“We’d like to thank the parents for their prompt arrival and say thanks to staff for working so hard to evacuate the kids and move the furniture.”

The Environment Agency flood watch scheme rang round the villagers to warn them of the possibility of flooding, and Malcolm Little, of The Garth, said: “It was touch and go for us for a while, but the water’s going back now.

“It was fairly obvious from first thing in the morning that things were in trouble.

“It was all the way round us.”

Some residents were angry that not enough had been done to protect the village.

“We’re safe this time, but we’re always worried,” said Neil Routledge, of Hendersons Croft.

“We’re concerned because they’ve done all the defences in Carlisle but we’ve flooded.”

The village pub, The Stag Inn, which was also badly hit in the 2005 floods, piled sandbags outside the door last night.

Both the Primary School and the nursery were open as usual today.

Parts of the north Cumbria countryside were also transformed yesterday as heavy rain and a high tide left large areas of normally dry land flooded.

The countryside around Rockcliffe was submerged as water from the estuary spilled into fields, leaving a trail of silt and driftwood.

There were dramatic scenes in Rickerby Park, where the flood plane shimmered beneath swirling brown water which had spilled from the Eden yesterday.

Writer Josh Spears, 22, who works in Carlisle, was passing the park yesterday afternoon.

He said: “Some of the trees are almost completely submerged. It looks like a small inland lake. It’s quite an impressive sight.”

Earlier in the day, Josh had seen the van which became stranded by the rapidly rising water shortly before 9am.

The driver, a man in his 60s, had to be pulled to safety by firefighters using a boat.

In Carlisle, the new “all weather” tennis dome at Bitts Park could be out of action for several weeks after it was damaged in high winds over the weekend.

The £280,000 inflatable dome collapsed at around 9am on Sunday morning, and contractors are currently assessing the damage.

A spokesperson for Carlisle City Council said: “We are in contact with our contractors to determine the extent of the damage and when it could be reinstalled. In the meantime, we apologise for any inconvenience.”

When erected the structure covers two of four new floodlit hard courts and is held up by steel ropes, which an eyewitness reported seeing break on Sunday morning due to the force of the wind.

The Lawn Tennis Association tennis development programme will continue to take place as normal, but will be weather dependent.

Anyone with a private booking is asked to contact 01228 625545.

There was more misery for passengers on the West Coast Mainline after trains between Preston and Carlisle were suspended on Monday morning due to flooding and a landslide at Shap. No trains were able to call at Oxenholme and Penrith and passengers were bussed along the route.

The problem was resolved yesterday afternoon and today all trains were reported to be running as normal.

First published at 11:38, Sunday, 11 January 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk