Ten years on from the floods which devastated parts of Cumbria, the Environment Agency insists it has made major improvements across the county.

The 2009 floods, which claimed the life of PC Bill Barker and flooded more than 1,300 properties in places including Cockermouth, Keswick, Workington and Eamont Bridge was, at the time, the result of the worst-ever rainfall in Cumbria.

The rainfall, which was exceeded during Storm Desmond in 2015, reached a peak of more than 40cm falling in just two days.

At the time this was the highest ever rainfall recorded in England.

The Environment Agency’s flood risk manager for Cumbria, Stewart Mounsey, explained why the floods were so devastating - and why it was a major challenge for the agency to prepare the county for another major flooding event.

“The scale of flooding in Cumbria in November 2009 was unprecedented,” he said.

“Ten years on, it is important to remember the hardship people experienced after their homes and businesses were inundated.

“We also need to remember those individuals who did so much during the response to flooding, particularly PC Bill Barker, who lost his life while protecting the community in Workington.

“Record rain fell on already saturated ground and the rivers in Cumbria, which react so rapidly, rose quickly and caused flooding across the county.

“Even though record rain fell, we have been working hard with communities, flood action groups, councils and all our partners across the county to manage flood risk and help households and businesses be prepared for the future.

“We have improved the way we forecast flooding through piloting additional radar coverage and this has improved our warning service, so more communities can benefit from advance warning that flooding may occur.”

The Environment Agency has spent millions on flood defence schemes in the Cockermouth and Keswick area in the last 10 years, including a £4.4m flood defence scheme in Cockermouth to protect 650 properties an a £6.1m scheme in Keswick to protect 180 properties.

About two dozen communities across Cumbria in total have benefitted from new flood defences in the past decade, with more flood defences still under construction.

The agency has also worked to improve their ability to respond to flooding emergencies in Cumbria, according to Mr Mounsey.

“We have upgraded our response capability with more than 6,500 staff trained and ready to help protect communities when floods threaten, 40km of temporary barriers, over 250 mobile pumps, and 500,000 sandbags,” he said.

“We have also been looking at new and more innovative ways to reduce flood risk to be used alongside traditional flood defences, including researching where natural flood management, such as tree planting and slowing the flow could play a part in reducing flood risk upstream of communities in Cumbria, alongside improving the environment.”

Mr Mounsey acknowledged that there will always be limitations to the protections from flooding that can be put in place.

“It is not always possible to build defences big enough to protect every home or business, and even with new flood defences in place, people cannot ever be fully protected from flooding, as we saw in 2015, when Cumbrian communities were devastated by flooding during Storm Desmond.

“This is why it is essential that people know their flood risk and have a flood action plan in place, so they know what to do if it happens.”