Cumbria mops up after severe flooding

London: Cumbria is facing up to the aftermath of the most severe flooding in its history, with thousands affected by the devastation.

Many homes and businesses remain cut off in the county and several schools are shut. Six bridges have been destroyed, with the Calva bridge in Workington reportedly on the verge of collapse and others closed.

Other parts of Britain have been badly hit. Police in Wales are still searching for a 21-year-old woman believed to have been swept away by a swollen river on Saturday night.

The woman went into the river Usk near Watergate bridge, Brecon, at 7pm on Saturday night, and yesterday police, fire brigades and mountain rescue teams searched a stretch of fast flowing water.

The chief executive of Cumbria county council, Jill Stannard, said the damage from the floods had run into "tens of millions of pounds". She pledged that authorities would be able to deliver prescriptions to people stranded in the county.

"We are confident we can reach everyone," she said. "We have been reaching people over the weekend. People get very frightened — totally understandably because this is very traumatic. It is important that people listen to advice through the media and don't listen to rumour and gossip."

Hundreds of police, soldiers and volunteers were in action along Britain's western coast as a second slow-moving weather front unloaded more rain from Dartmoor to the Scottish border, with more expected this week.

The Association of British Insurers estimated the insurance bill in Cumbria at £100 million (Dh610.39 million).