Storm Desmond left a trail of havoc across parts of the UK’s transport network over the weekend when high winds and severe rainfall caused flooding and damage to infrastructure.

 

Rail and road links were affected in North West England and southern Scotland as well as in areas of north Wales and Northern Ireland.

 

Network Rail engineers were yesterday able to reopen a section of the West Coast Main Line north of Carlisle which was under two and a half metres of flood water on Sunday. Water drained away by the middle of Monday morning to reveal extensive track damage as well as a thick layer of mud and silt covering trackside equipment.

 

Several other lines that were blocked over the weekend have already reopened after engineers worked to clear landslips and repair damage.

 

Meanwhile motorists have suffered widespread disruption caused by landslips and flooded and damaged highways, which have in some cases been washed away.

 

In Cumbria the flood waters also caused two road bridges including the A592 Pooley Bridge in Ullswater to collapse. Attention is now turning to 130 other bridges which the county council said require immediate inspection.

 

A spokesperson for Cumbria County Council said: “This level of damage is unprecedented and we have had staff working flat out to assess the scale of what’s happened and begin to put plans in place.”

 

The picture has been much the same in Lancashire, where in one case a shipping container carried by the overflowing River Lune struck the Skerton Bridge and the Greyhound Bridge in Lancaster. An inspection by engineers later revealed no structural damage but large amounts of debris will need to be cleared before the bridges can reopen.

 

Meanwhile in the Scottish Borders a spokesperson said the council was still assessing its bridges and transport structures but that the vast majority of roads have now reopened.

 

(Photo: Network Rail)