Raging Floods devastate UK Lake District, much of Ireland

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

*Perilous Times and Global Warming

Raging Floods devastate UK Lake District, much of Ireland*

By SCOTT HEPPELL
The Associated Press
Friday, November 20, 2009; 6:22 PM

COCKERMOUTH, England -- Raging floods engulfed northern England's
picturesque Lake District on Friday following the heaviest rainfall ever
recorded in Britain, killing a police officer and trapping dozens in
their swamped homes.

Military helicopters winched dozens of people to safety and emergency
workers in bright orange inflatable boats rescued scores more after an
unprecedented deluge.

British soldiers conducted house-to-house searches for those trapped by
floods as deep as 8 feet (2.5 meters). Troops also dropped down on lines
from Royal Air Force helicopters, breaking through rooftops to pluck
people to safety.

Constable Bill Barker, 44, died as he joined rescue attempts, swept into
the surging waters when a major bridge collapsed. Emergency services
said more than 200 people were rescued in the hardest-hit town,
Cockermouth and about 1,000 homes were flooded.
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In a message to local officials, Queen Elizabeth II said she was "deeply
concerned and saddened by the dreadful flooding across Britain." British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Barker "was a very heroic, very brave man."

Britain's Met Office said a record 12.3 inches (314.4 millimeter) of
rain fell in 24 hours in the area - the heaviest rainfall ever recorded
in the U.K.

Cockermouth, a market town 330 miles (530 kilometers) northwest of
London, lies at the junction of the Cocker and Derwent rivers and is
known as the birthplace of poet William Wordsworth. The flood was "of
biblical proportions," local House of Commons lawmaker Tony Cunningham said.

Heavy rain and gales also brought widespread flooding to Ireland, as
more than 3 feet (1 meter) of water shut down the center of the
country's second-largest city, Cork, and more than a dozen towns and
villages. The Irish army was used to rescue the stranded from waist-deep
floodwaters and a helicopter winched to safety a County Galway family of
five, including the 87-year-old grandmother.

Floods caused transport chaos along Ireland's western coast. At the Lake
Hotel, on the shores of the fabled Killarney Lakes in County Kerry,
about 170 guests at the Victorian period building were evacuated by
tractor, as staff carried period furniture upstairs.

Irish weather forecasting service Met Eireann said parts of southern and
western Ireland suffered their most intense and sustained rainfall in 30
years.

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Associated Press Writers Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin and Jill Lawless,
Danica Kirka, Bob Barr, Jennifer Quinn and David Stringer in London
contributed to this report.