'Tsunami' Flood Hits Devastated Village Again

The flood-devastated village of Glenridding is underwater for the second time in four days, with residents urged to stay indoors for their safety.

There was yet more torrential rain overnight in Cumbria, with up to 67mm falling on already swollen rivers in the past 24 hours.

A river in the Lake District village once again burst its banks, as people were beginning to clean up after the floods and landslides caused by Storm Desmond at the weekend.

Resident Mark Hook, 57, described the latest floodwaters as a "tsunami" that washed boulders weighing up to a tonne into the area.

A "multi-agency" response, which includes the military and fire service, is under way as it is feared more lives could be in danger.

Roads in and out of the village took hours to reopen, with emergency vehicles struggling to reach the stricken village.

:: £50m Relief Fund To Help Flood Victims

The military has been sent in to help deliver food and water.

Agricultural worker Carl Scrivens held back tears as he told Sky News: "I'm heartbroken.

"A bit numb, a bit anxious because I need to get to work and earn some money. My bank balance will only last out so long.

"There's been a lot of hard work done over the last three days and we're back to square one."

Avril Brown told Sky how her shop was flooded for the second time in three days.

"It's just devastating," she said. "We had probably 20 to 30 people over the last few days helping us out.

"We were on our hands and knees to 6pm last night.

"They were all absolutely filthy, and we got all this out and it was starting to look a little bit reasonable, and it just went in minutes - literally minutes."

A couple from Backbarrow told how they battled through the floods to hospital with just minutes to spare before their son arrived.

John Bibby, 36, feared he would not be able to get wife Katharine to hospital because the Backbarrow bridge was destroyed and the only other road was under 3ft of water.

After a tense journey, they arrived at Furness General in Barrow, and within five minutes Ms Bibby, 36, gave birth. They have given their new son the middle name Noah.

Cumbria County Council said the damage from the weekend's flooding was on a scale never seen before, with the situation changing all the time.

Thousands of tonnes of debris fell on to roads, carriageways and bridges in landslides.

Figures from a rain gauge at Honister in the Lake District showed a UK record 341mm of rain fell in 24 hours at the weekend.

The average rainfall in Cumbria for December is 146.1mm, according to the Met Office.

Residents are being told to remain vigilant, but the rain is expected to move south from flood-hit areas.

Sky's weather producer Jo Robinson said Shap in Cumbria recorded 45mm of rain overnight, while Keswick saw 31mm.

Capel Curig in Wales saw the most overnight rain, with 69mm falling.

The Met Office has issued a severe warning for heavy rain and snow in North Wales and North West England on Saturday.

It said up to 60mm of rain could fall in parts, adding: "Given saturated ground, be aware of the potential for some localised flooding of land, roads and properties, as well as some travel disruption."

The Government has pledged £51m for homes and businesses affected by the floods.

The announcement came as it emerged thousands of new homes could be built in flood-risk areas.

Nine of the 20 brownfield sites earmarked for new homes under the Government's "housing zones" scheme are at risk of flooding, according to an investigation by Greenpeace.

The environmental campaign group used data from freedom of information requests to plot the location of the zones, where 9,000 homes are planned.

They include Hinkley in Bridgwater, Somerset, where 1,000 properties could be built in an area devastated by floods last year.