On Saturday, Storm Desmond unleashed upon Kendal some of the worst floods in living memory, as the river Kent burst its banks and water gushed through the streets. By the next morning, the appalling scale of the damage was clear. Flooding had affected more than 1,400 homes in the area, forcing huge numbers of residents to evacuate their homes, and leaving countless more with irreparable damage.
Walking around areas such as Sandylands the next day, I was shocked by the damage the water had wrought. One local resident had lived there for more than 60 years, yet had never experienced flooding on this scale before. People had torrents of filthy water pouring into their homes. It was heartbreaking to see people, many of whom are not covered by insurance, carrying piles of sodden, ruined belongings out of their floodswept homes.
Although the water has in large part subsided from most areas, many homes have been rendered uninhabitable – left without safe electricity and possessions destroyed by the floodwater. The response by the local community has been overwhelming, with people rallying around to help out their neighbours and look after the victims of the disaster. In Sandylands, Jonny Gios and a team from the Methodist church there were out in the community, checking how people were and helping to clear up. Local farmers brought along tractors and pumps and helped to start clearing water.
As I walked round the streets, people who had lost almost everything but had salvaged a kettle and a few teabags were on the streets offering their neighbours a hot drink. It was inspiring to witness such solidarity, and my thanks go to all those whose generosity of spirit made this terrible experience a little more bearable for those around them.
However, while the clean-up operation has started to restore a semblance of normality, getting back to normal is a long-term process. For many people, it will be months before their homes are once more habitable.
It is for this reason that I have appealed to those who own second homes in South Lakeland to show solidarity with flood victims. Many local people have already helped out by offering shelter to flood victims in the immediate aftermath of the floods; however, moving beyond the immediate problem, many of these families are now looking to find temporary properties to live in until their own homes are once more habitable. South Lakeland has the third highest proportion of second homes of any local authority in the country, with thousands of holiday homes in the area. It would be fantastic if second-home owners whose properties would otherwise be sitting empty were willing to make these available to those whose homes have been destroyed. We have already had over a dozen concrete offers of help, while many more have expressed an interest.
This is, of course, only a small part of the overall project of rebuilding South Lakeland following Storm Desmond. Huge amounts of money will have to be spent on roads and bridges simply to restore the infrastructure that was previously here, and I have been putting pressure on the government to make this available. We must also look at the flood defences in the area. I have repeatedly called for more investment in flood defences, yet it is infuriating to see that successive governments have not taken the threat of flooding seriously and have not provided the necessary funding.
Over the past five years, the government has repeatedly chosen not to give the green light to a scheme that could have protected over 400 homes in the area, as the Guardian has highlighted. The plan was first due to receive funding in 2011, yet has been postponed year after year. I insisted in 2012 that it was wrong not to proceed with this scheme. In the coming weeks the government must look again at flood schemes across the country to make sure they are fit for purpose. While I understand the need to bring government spending under control, the reality is that these schemes would save money in the long run, quite aside from the human misery that could be avoided.
Ultimately, it is the human cost that is most immediate and most critical, and it is for that reason I have made this appeal. By offering the use of their properties, second-home owners will make an enormous difference to the lives of people whose festive season has already been cut short by this awful disaster.
