[Kizzy]

Storm Desmond: army deployed to rescue stranded as flood defences fail – live blog
David Cameron calls emergency COBRA meeting
Over 100 severe flood warnings and 68 alerts
60,000 homes in northwest England left without power
200mm of rain fell in Britain’s wettest area in Cumbria
Follow the latest developments after man dies and army is drafted in to deal with chaos wreaked by strong winds and heavy rain, causing Cumbria to declare major incident.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said that every fire and rescue service responding to the floods across northern England has seen unprecedented funding cuts over the past five years.

Fire and rescue services in Cumbria, Northumberland, Lancashire, Tyne and Wear and North Yorkshire have all faced cuts and job losses, it was claimed.

The FBU said the ability of the fire and rescue service to respond to incidents over the weekend had been affected by the cuts and called on the prime minister to reverse them.

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, praised firefighters for their “fantastic work” in tackling the impact of the storm and the floods. He said firefighters had saved thousands of people from the dangers of flooding and they were central to efforts to protect livestock, industry and other private property.

David Cameron has tweeted his sympathy for the thousands of people affected by the storm. Yet our fire and rescue service is being cut to pieces and the prime minister turns a blind eye to the results.

Firefighters are responding to this emergency as they have been every time such storms and floods have hit the UK.

David Cameron, on the eve of the 2010 general election, spoke at Carlisle fire station and promised to protect frontline public services. The reality has been the complete opposite.

The fire and rescue service is being cut to pieces. We urgently appeal to the prime minister to reverse the cuts to our emergency services.”

http://www.theguardian.com/environme...b0768f5818c962