Britain to review flood defences in wake of Storm Desmond

“But what the defences do do is they slow it down, it gives us more time, it’s given people here more time to evacuate safely, and it’s meant that there’s less water on the streets than there would have been if we hadn’t had that defence in place”.

But Environment Agency Chief Executive James Bevan described the recent weather has an “unprecedented event”.

Electricity North West said that around 2,600 properties in Cumbria remained without power on the morning of 6 November because of 11 separate faults caused by flooding. Some hospitals and schools remained closed due to high water, road and rail links were severed.

According to the Met Office, the average rainfall for Cumbria for the month of December is 146.1 mm (5.75 inches).

Osborne was challenged by the shadow leader of the house and deputy first minister, Angela Eagle, who said that a year on from the 2013/14 floods only 15% of people affected had received payments from the government scheme.

“Households are going to need support to get back on their feet and manage while they are unable to return home and we know from experience that businesses will need potentially significant help to bounce back”.

Thousands of homes and business were affected by the heavy rains and strong winds that battered Britain over the weekend, with one death reported in London after a man was blown into the path of a bus, police said.

The Met Office said 47mm of rain had fallen in a 12-hour period until 5am in Shap, around 22 miles from Glenridding.

The Prime Minister also admitted that multimillion-pound defences – which were upgraded in 2010 to withstand a “once in 100 years” flood – “weren’t enough on this occasion”.

He defended previous flood planning, saying the problem had been that levels of rainfall had smashed previous records.

Speaking in parliament, Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said there were “a number of weather-related fatalities” nationwide but did not elaborate.

The Chancellor stood firm, insisting this was “not the case” and argued because of the strength of the United Kingdom economy “we are actually increasing money on flood defences”.

“We’ve been working closely with DCLG (Department for Communities and Local Government) and this announcement of a community recovery package is very welcome news”, he said.

Superintendent Mark Pannone said: “People in Cumbria have really come together following the severe flooding that has occurred over the last few days, and have shown commendable community spirit across the county”.

By Sunday evening Britain’s Environment Agency website still carried flood warnings for more than 130 areas, mostly in the northwest, including 46 warnings of “severe” floods that could pose a threat to life.

“From time to time nature will throw things at us which will overwhelm the system and I think that is what happened here”.

Ms Truss will visit Cumbria after making her statement to the Commons.

“This could cause flash flooding in areas already saturated by Storm Desmond and a rise in river levels”, Roys said. British army was mobilized to evacuate at least 5,000 people from their flooded homes.