Update to RAYNET Response following aftermath of Cumbria floods

Jon Mossman, G7JKK, the RAYNET Zone 10 (North-West England) Coordinator has provided an update on happenings over the last 48 hours.

The North Pennines RAYNET group, supported by RAYNET members from Merseyside, Lancashire and Dumfries & Galloway groups manned a single radio link from Friday morning, between North Workington and Carlisle to provide resilience for 999 calls following the localised failure of BT cables due the Northside bridge collapse. The requirement for this finished at 15.30 Hrs yesterday when all lines were restored.

The Calva Bridge remains standing and RAYNET remain on standby whilst BT continue to bore beneath the river to install new cables. Estimate for the completion of this work vary greatly but are assumed to be in the order of 7 -10 days. Of course the bridge may survive this long but RAYNET still needs to be at a state of readiness to respond when called.

I visited Cumbria yesterday, and both Doug White, G3OHL, Group Controller for North Pennines and also the Emergency Planning Officers are very grateful for the assistance provided so far.

Can you please pass on my thanks for those who have indicated their availability of assistance so far. I realise it's frustrating offering your services and then not being called but that is the nature of RAYNET !