Summary - what we know so far

Emergency services in the north of England are becoming increasingly stretched as the Army has been drafted in to help cope with floods in the aftermath of Storm Desmond. Fears are growing over the safety of an elderly man who police believe fell into a swollen river in Cumbria, and the weather has already claimed the life of a 90-year-old man in London. Strong winds and heavy rain tore through Britain and a major incident was declared in Cumbria, the worst affected county. Concerns are growing over an incident at the River Kent in Kendal as police wait for an Underwater Search Team to help them in a search for the elderly male believed to have fallen in the water. Motorists are being advised to avoid the area around Staveley Road. Rescue and evacuation missions, which began on Saturday, continue in areas which have seen more than a month's rainfall over the last 24 hours. A 90-year-old man lost his life after he was believed to have been blown into the side of a moving bus by a gust of wind, near Finchley Central Tube station, north London, a Scotland Yard spokesman said. Carlisle remains one of the most severely affected areas as water levels continued to rise past the expected peak time of 9.15am on Sunday. Soldiers have been deployed to support local emergency services by helping to move people from their homes in streets where cars have been almost entirely submerged. West Midlands Fire Service has also sent firefighters and specialist equipment to the county and its control room staff are helping to answer the high number of calls from their Birmingham office. Leading biscuit manufacturer, the Carlisle United Biscuits factory, is believed to be completely flooded to a depth of 5ft - on par with levels reached during major floods in 2005 - and employees are being told to stay home until further notice. Rising water round my car has I drove out of Lancaster. pic.twitter.com/WKirRQqE2M — Rachel Willis (@RachelWillis1) December 6, 2015 In Eamont Bridge, south of Penrith in Cumbria, 150 people were rescued by the Coastguard from a flooded static caravan park. The village of Braithwaite became completely cut off when its main bridge, the Coledale High Bridge, collapsed as the river burst its banks. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs minister Rory Stewart, who is also the Tory MP for Penrith and the Border, said flooding in his constituency has been "the worst that anybody's experienced" and acknowledged water had "overtopped" existing flood defences. Aftermath of #StormDesmond, #Derwentwater and #BassenthwaiteLake join up #Keswick this water drains to #Cockermouth pic.twitter.com/aOnbMW7JGo — John McCarthy (@JMcCarthy_obt) December 6, 2015 He told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend: "We're going to look very, very carefully at all the defences up and down Cumbria for exactly that reason. This is a very extreme and unprecedented event, early indications suggest we've passed the UK record on rainfall in Cumbria." But he added that, in the face of record rainfall in the area prompting a "very very serious response" from the fire and rescue service, mountain rescue, the police and the army, people in the area had shown "incredible community spirit". Elsewhere in the country, overnight flooding has caused rivers to burst their banks and even reach record high levels. The River Tyne at Bywell, Northumberland, broke its previous record of 6.33m when it reached almost seven metres in an area that can only withstand a maximum level of 4.6m. The county measured up to 150mm of rain in some places, compared to the December average of 100mm. Almost 60,000 people in the North have been left without power and Electricity North West confirmed that the majority face shortages for "a number of days" as it works to fix further faults caused by the flooding. Major road closures are also still in place due to blockages and following a number of accidents involving heavy goods vehicles on Saturday. An emergency Government Cobra meeting has been called to organise effective responses for the worst affected.