Lake District washout and ferry halted as eight flood warnings remain

Windermere ferry in the Lake District stopped and homes flooded

The famous Windermere ferry has been unable to run due to the lake being too full after nearly a foot of rain fell in 24 hours. Cumbria currently has eight flood warnings in place across the county. This means that flooding could happen at any moment. A small number of homes have already fallen victim to the rains and cars have been stranded across the Lake District. There are also flood warnings in place for the Yorkshire Dales for the next 24 hours. 

The Windermere ferry operators apologised for not being able to run their usual service between Nab End and Bowness. They took to Twitter to say “Due to excessive rainfall overnight the lake levels have risen to an extent whereby we cannot land safely and must suspend services till levels drop.”

A long-held marathon has also had to be suspended due to the deluge. The Original Mountain Marathon was due to be held over two days, from 30 October. This is only the third time it has been cancelled in 53 years. The event organisers were unable to set up the necessary infrastructure along the 52-mile route in the Langdales to ensure the race could be run safely. It means there are 2,000 participants unable to run this year. 

Parts of Lake District rivers including the Cocker, Kent, Greta and Rothay are also at risk of flooding. Stewart Mounsey, the Environment Agency’s flood risk manager in Cumbria, said: “We’ve had over 12 inches of rain in the central Lake District in the last 24 hours and the rivers have responded. The rain is set to continue today but ease later on this afternoon but we would urge people to be prepared and ready to act.”

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