Policeman swept to death rescuing drivers

Published on Friday 20 November 2009 21:46

TRIBUTES were paid last night to a policeman who was swept to his death as raging floodwaters of "biblical proportions" demolished the bridge on which he had been standing, as he battled to save stranded motorists.

Constable Bill Barker, who was married with four children, was directing motorists away from danger in flood-devastated Cumbria when he disappeared in the raging torrent.

He died as emergency services were stretched to breaking point, coping with devastation caused by floods on a scale said to be seen only once in 1,000 years.

Across the Border, 40 business premises were badly flooded as the River Nith broke its banks in the Whitesands area of Dumfries.

The continuing deluge caused widespread chaos on roads throughout southern Scotland and disruption to rail services across the country.

PC Barker, who had been due to celebrate his 45th birthday today, died in the early hours after he and a colleague attended the flood-threatened bridge at Northside in Workington, spanning the River Derwent, to divert motorists away from danger. His body was later recovered on a nearby beach.

Jerry Graham, assistant chief constable of Cumbria, said: "Constable Barker was called to the bridge with a colleague to try and protect members of the public who were putting themselves in danger by being on the bridge.

"Unfortunately, when they were on the bridge, the bridge gave way just due to the volume of water and PC Barker went into the water and was swept away." Prime Minister Gordon Brown led tributes to the officer. He said: "Police Constable Bill Barker died trying to save the lives of others. He was a very heroic, very brave man who will be sorely missed by everybody who was close to him."

Hazel Barker, the constable's widow, said: "

Bill was my best friend, my forever friend, and an amazing dad. I have the comfort of knowing that Bill died doing the job he loved, and the fact that he was helping others is just typical Bill."

The Queen said she was "deeply concerned and saddened by the dreadful flooding across Britain".

The bridge at Northside was one of four crossings in Cumbria destroyed by the floods. Another collapsed in Workington and two were destroyed by floodwaters in neighbouring Cockermouth, where rescue services, including the RAF, army, RNLI and mountain rescue teams, worked through the night to rescue more than 250 people trapped in their homes.

People were rescued by RAF helicopters and a flotilla of small boats as rising floodwaters devastated the town. Parts of Cockermouth town centre were under more than 8ft of water.

Some desperate residents were forced to break through the roofs of their homes so they could be winched to safety.

Tony Cunningham, Labour MP for Workington, said the flood had been "of biblical proportions". He added: "The scale and the force of the devastation in Cockermouth is huge."

Mr Cunningham said it would have taken a massive force to destroy the Northside Bridge.

"The force of the river was absolutely incredible. This is a stone bridge – to wash away a bridge of that size is incredible."

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn visited Cockermouth to see the devastation first-hand. He said the town may have suffered the wettest day ever recorded in the area.

Even defences built after the floods of 2005 to withstand a "one-in-100-years flood" could not cope with the volume of water, he said.

"What we dealt with last night was probably more like one-in-1,000, so even the very best defences, if you have such quantities of rain in such a short space of time, can be over-topped," said Mr Benn.

In Northumberland, an elderly woman was airlifted by helicopter to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after her car was engulfed in floodwater near Cornhill-on-Tweed. By the time she was rescued, she had been in the water for two hours, but was reported to be in high spirits.

In Sussex, a workman died after being run over by his own bulldozer on a beach where he was repairing flood defences. Police said Michael Streeter had been crushed when the huge digger rolled on to him.

Last night, the Met Office said the worst of the torrential rain had already passed. A spokesman said: "There is more heavy rain on its way this weekend, but it is nothing like what we've had over the past 24 hours."