Cameron pledges £40m to bolster 'overwhelmed' flood defences

Extra spending comes after claims of 'full-level mismanagement' at Environment Agency

Storm Desmond flooding, Carlisle
(Image credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

David Cameron has pledged an extra £40m to reinforce the UK's flood defences after admitting they were "overwhelmed" by record rainfall which left swathes of northern England and Scotland under water over the Christmas season.

The floods have brought disruption to thousands of homes over the last month, with Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and central Scotland worst affected by swelling waters which swallowed up bridges, swamped homes and cut off power. The latest in a series of storms to batter the nation, Storm Frank, proved deadly - claiming the lives of a canoeist and a kayaker in separate incidents in Scotland. Elsewhere, hundreds were evacuated from their homes as waters rose, and the army was called in to supervise the response to the flooding. Extreme weather is estimated to have caused hundreds of millions of pounds of damage to homes, businesses and local infrastructure in Cumbria alone, ABC News reports.

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