Rapid recovery

Less than two weeks ago, large sections of Cumbria were devastated by floods that destroyed property and businesses, removed families from their homes and even tragically claimed the death of a local Police officer.

Paul Carter hears the story of a disabled Cockermouth resident who explains that despite the sheer physical scale of the flooding, the community spirit of the town provided all the support she and her husband needed.

Cockermouth was undoubtedly one of the towns most devastated by the recent floods that hit the north-west.

The town, on the north-west fringes of the Lake District, was hit on 19 November by the highest levels of rainfall ever recorded in Britain, causing the river Derwent to burst its fragile banks, swamping the Cumbrian town and sweeping away bridges.

Najma Fraser and her husband, who are both partially sighted, run a physiotherapy practice in Cockermouth, and have witnessed at first hand the devastating effect that the floodwaters have had.

“There was a lot of rescue activity on the day,” recalls Mrs Fraser.

“People were being evacuated in helicopters. There was 8ft of water in the town.”

“The water was gushing at 30 knots. Even the rescue boats, which were manned by professional people were having difficulty manoeuvring”.

The couple’s flat is located in an upstairs property, so despite the water in town being above the level of shop doors, their home was safe.

Mrs Fraser explains that despite this, the police remained concerned for their welfare and later came to their flat at midnight to tell them they were being evacuated, though Mrs Fraser persuaded them to let her and her husband remain in the property.

She told officers that due to their impairments, moving them to a new environment would be less safe.

“We know where everything is at home, she said.

“It took quite a bit of persuading as they were obviously concerned for our safety but we were safe in the flat as we were upstairs.”

However, Mrs Fraser has nothing but praise for the support they have both received, from the police, local charities and organisations such as Action for Blind People and local residents in the town.

“Cockermouth is a fantastically community spirited town, everyone was helping everybody else, whether they knew each other or not,” says Mrs Fraser.

“When we were putting up notices of relocation in the shop, they wouldn’t stick because of the condensation, and people offered to laminate them for us and put them up. We’ve had offers of help from everyone.”

Mrs Fraser says that being partially sighted, the most difficult thing to deal with in the immediate aftermath of the floods was disruption to power and communication line, having to manage without electricity for almost two whole days.

“Where I felt most hit was I had all these people ringing, giving their telephone numbers in case I needed them. However, because the landlines weren’t working particularly well, people had given mobile numbers which I’d written down and then because of the power couldn’t use my CCTV (video magnifier) to read them, so I felt really isolated,” she says.

She continued: “Not because of the people, because the police were out on the street 24 hours a day, so I could have shouted from the window if I had wanted and they would have been there straight away.”

Due to the damage done by the water, they are currently unable to use their premises, however another physiotherapist in the town offered to share her premises with the Frasers, both taking three days a week.

At the moment, Mr and Mrs Fraser are waiting for their business premises to be restored. However, as the premises need to be sterilised before they can be used clinically, that process could take up to six months.

So how does she feel now that the water line has started to recede, and that the clean-up has started?

“I think everyone is still in shock, no-one can believe this has happened, after all, it’s barely been two weeks.”

“People are still working in an adrenaline state. I think reality though will sink in next week.

“If people had told me last week that water could have done this kind of damage, I wouldn’t have believed them, unless I had witnessed it for myself.“