Cameron: Flood defences 'weren't enough' to prevent Storm Desmond damage

The Environment Agency will look at whether higher defences are needed to prevent the kind of flooding seen during Storm Desmond, the Prime Minister has said.

David Cameron said the existing multi-million pound defences "weren't enough" and that a study would be undertaken to see what more could be done.

Speaking while visiting Cumbria, he said the floods were an "absolutely horrific" thing to happen.

He said he wanted people to be able to "live free from the fear of being flooded".

Mr Cameron said: "For many of these people it's not the first time that it's happened, which is why we built these great barriers here which had prevented Carlisle from being flooded on two other occasions, but they weren't enough this time - something like 14 inches of rain in 24 hours, it really was torrential."

The Prime Minister said there would be a review of spending on flood defences to see what more could be done to prevent future incidents.

He said: "After every flood, the thing to do is sit down, look at the money you're spending, look at what you're building, look at what you're planning to build in the future and ask 'is it enough?' And that's exactly what we'll do."

Mr Cameron was shown round a flooded home by a local resident in Carlisle and spoke with emergency crews who had been helping deal with the effects of Storm Desmond.

He praised their "brilliant" work but said it was "no consolation" to people who had been flooded and faced potentially not being home for Christmas.

Speaking about the flooding victims he said: "We need to make sure they get all the support they need, get the insurance claims paid quickly, get them the alternate accommodation, make sure the council picks up the furniture and the things they’ve had to throw out of their houses and then try and get them back in as soon as possible."