Flood rescue support
Early on Thursday morning (19 November) members of Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) were put on standby by Cumbria Constabulary, anticipating that they would be needed to assist with the response to floods across Cumbria.
“There had been heavy rainfall in the early hours of Thursday,” said Team Leader, Martin Cotterell, “and, with winds rising to gale force as well, significant flooding was expected. I contacted a couple of Team members and we got two of our Land Rover vehicles, the rescue boat and a lot of specialist swift water rescue gear out of our Base in Patterdale and up on to higher ground - the lake road along Ullswater was already flooded in several places.”
During Thursday afternoon, the Team helped police to distribute sandbags to properties in and around Ullswater. As darkness fell, the Team’s swift water rescue training came into its own as Team members participated in two rescues, one of a family trapped in their vehicle at Watermillock and a second of two people stranded in their home in Pooley Bridge, one of whom had a medical condition.
“That second rescue was typical,” said Martin Cotterell, “in that we joined forces with the other emergency services and a local farmer who carried the people to safety in his tractor. There has been so much goodwill and generosity in helping wherever help is needed and we’d like to thank the many local residents who offered their practical support.”
Even though the rain eased overnight, the River Eamont continued to rise and members of Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team joined the RNLI, Penrith MRT and the Fire and Rescue Service at Eamont Bridge on Friday morning to help with the evacuation and with checking all the affected properties. Once this task was completed, the Team then worked with Penrith Fire and Rescue Service to check all the properties along the Eamont down to Pooley Bridge.
Dave Watkinson is Training Officer for the Team: “As well as mountain skills and first aid, one of our priorities in recent years has been swift water rescue,” said Dave. “Those skills have been invaluable in the past few days as our members can confidently work in flowing water and know how to keep themselves - and anyone that they rescue – safe in the water.”
The final two call outs of this, one of the Team’s busiest periods for many years, came on Friday night and then on Saturday as members went to the rescue of stranded motorists in the Patterdale valley and on the Ullswater road at Watermillock.
With the continuing bad weather, further call outs are possible in the coming week but Martin Cotterell is under no illusions about the scale of the problems across Cumbria: “We are just one of 11 mountain rescue teams across the county and, like our colleagues on the life boats, we are all volunteers who have been proud to be able to play a part in search and rescue over the past few days. We know only too well that Keswick, Cockermouth and Workington have seen far worse flooding than anything in our area but we hope that all those affected in Eamont Bridge and throughout the Ullswater valley will be able to get back to normal as soon as possible.”