David Cameron to visit flood-hit North as 350 troops are sent to help

Mr Cameron said: “I would like to pay a huge tribute to all those emergency workers and troops who have worked tirelessly to respond to this weekend’s events. There has been a tremendous response from communities, too.”

Sir James Bevan, chief executive of the Environment Agency, called Storm Desmond “an unprecedented event”. He said: “The rivers rose to such a level that in some parts of Cumbria they overtopped our flood defences. But it’s important to say that many households were protected by our defences.”

He rejected suggestions that flooding would be taken more seriously if it was in the South, saying: “You can never protect everybody all of the time.”

At least 20 schools are expected to remain closed today. The disruption has led to the cancellation of appointments and routine services across NHS hospitals and services today. Rail and road networks have also been severely disrupted. Cumbria police have launched a search following reports of a man falling into a swollen River Kent in Kendal. Electricity North West said engineers had restored power to 11,000 homes in Lancaster and aimed to restore another 4,000 this morning.

Cumbria county council leader Stewart Young told BBC Radio 4: “I will be talking to our local MPs and if the Environment Agency needs to revisit them then that’s what’s going to have to happen because we can’t continue to have events like this.”