COCKERMOUTH, England, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- A massive cleanup operation was under way in Cumbria, England, after a foot of rain smashed bridges and left craters in roads, officials said.
The town of Cockermouth, on the River Cocker, was particularly devastated, said emergency officials, who set up a decontamination unit to handle raw sewage flooding the river.
Another 1.5 inches of rain was expected Sunday, with more than 1,300 homes in Cockermouth already flooded and coated with sludge, The Sunday Times of London reported. Insurers said it may take up to a year to make the homes habitable again.
One police officer was reported killed Friday while shepherding people to safety from a bridge in Workington that gave way underneath him.
An estimated 1,800 bridges needed to be inspected for damage, with bridges over the River Cocker hardest hit by debris that smashed bridge foundations, emergency officials said.
