Holiday-home owners could provide refuge for Kendal’s flood victims | Tim Farron
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.
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