Cockermouth floods: one year on and business is booming

"Here's the latest must-have bag," says Jonty Chippendale, brandishing a smart hessian carrier with stylised flood waves and the slogan: "Cockermouth – open for business." But not for long. By next week, cool shoppers in the Cumbrian market town will sport new Christmas versions; and a 2011 bag (tentative logo "Forward from the flood") is due to take over in the new year. More than 2,000 of the first line have been sold to raise money for relief and repairs, after the town's pretty Main Street was left looking like a war zone a year ago. The rivers Derwent and Cocker joined forces to sweep through the town, reaching almost head-height in Chippendale and his wife Fiona's toy shop. Exhausted and evacuated to a cramped, temporary stall uphill in the auction mart, they seldom imagined a day when £1 Flood Tour maps would sell like hot cakes to visitors back in their original, brightly restored shop. Nor did the National Trust's staff at William Wordsworth's birthplace, a hundred yards down the street, where a DVD of the drama is now outselling chutney and jam. "We had people ringing up anxiously at first, asking: should we come when you've got so much on your hands," said Rachel Painter, the house steward, who rediscovered one of the small mansion's ripped-off garden gates on the banks of the Cocker four miles downstream. "Everyone said: of course you must. We need you. Please don't stay away." The Cockermouth bounce led to special stickers for Christmas shopping, thanking buyers for helping the town; and a communal sense that the blow could be turned to advantage. Links with the similar, small but prosperous market town of Morpeth in Northumberland, which was badly flooded in 2008, encouraged the mood. Both places are now national models for recovery. "The biggest success has been the restoration and renewal of shopfronts," says Chippendale, who helped establish a pattern of improving, rather than simply reinstating wrecked premises. Damage was so severe – with some premises such as the Old Sweet Shop in Main Street still stripped to their stone walls – that everything was up for a new look. The result has been a transformation of facades, with 1960s tat and other unfortunate additions largely replaced with a retro look. Prince Charles has promoted the initiative with visits and behind the scenes, but it isn't just "pastiche Georgian", says Chippendale. "We wanted real quality and that's what the town's got." The initiative was helped by the Environment Agency's prompt start to £500,000 of flood defences and work on the rivers' channels and banks. Cumbria county council also made a prompt start on repairing severely weakened bridges. Businesses have also taken the chance to "flood proof" premises, as far as is possible in a town where flooding – albeit seldom on the scale of 2009 – goes back centuries. "See where my electrics are," says Chippendale, pointing up at the ceiling which now houses plugs and wiring usually fitted into skirting boards. His shop's express train counter and red bus shelves can be dismantled rapidly. Slatted wood on the walls came in two sections: a lower one, which serious floods would probably spoil; and a separate upper section which would not have to be replaced. Jennings brewery, which filled up with ale-coloured water in November last year, has also raised vital equipment to the first floor. Chippendale says: "It's only sense. We are relearning lessons which our forefathers understood. "Wordsworth's birthplace is raised up a storey. So is the solicitors' office opposite us, which was the home of Fletcher Christian, the Bounty mutineer. Both were only flooded in the cellars. Their builders knew what they were doing." The revival next year is not just a matter of bags. A new Taste of Cumbria food festival, organised in 12 weeks, filled Main Street with stalls and thousands of visitors this summer and will be repeated on a larger scale. The expected loss of West Cumbria's tourism initiative to spending cuts has caused protest, but also a fresh surge of DIY events. "The next challenge is insurance," says Chippendale – not so much in the handful of disputes which are still keeping some flood victims out of their homes, but in unresolved national issues. The government and the Association of British Insurers have yet to extend their deal on defence in exchange for a willingness to cover flood-vulnerable premises. And meanwhile, like the rivers a year ago, premiums in the CA13 postcode area continue to rise. Flood facts – The cost Total damage cost: £276.5m Business and local economy: £129.2m Property: £98.3m Roads, bridges, Workington port: £34m Health and welfare: £12.9m Government emergency funding: £2.1m Flood protection Homes with free floodline warning before flood: 6,300 Now: 9,300 Local flood action groups before flood: 18 Target now: 86 Cost of Carlisle defences after 2005 flood: £38m Estimated saving in Carlisle thanks to defences holding last year: £48m 2009 floods much bigger than 2005 but many fewer properties affected in Cumbria. Helping themselves Donations to Flood Recovery Fund: 5,349 Total raised: £2.9m – more than £1m from Cumbria Average gift: £475 Biggest donor: Jennings brewery, Cockermouth, which was flooded but gave £178,497 Amount paid out so far: £2.2m Agencies involved: 50 Getting around Bridges destroyed or closed: 20 Now reopened: 17 Target for full replacement: December 2012 Roads: more than 100 closures, now all repaired Workington port: dredged and back in action last January, £4m repairs start this month, revenues for 2009-10 up by £100,000 to £2m Footpaths: £4m damage, 137 repaired, including bridges, 172 still to do Still out Cockermouth homes flooded: 691 Households still out: 150 Proportion of population still out: 12% (estimate) Elsewhere in county: 20-odd homes still empty Back in business Businesses helped: 217 Grants paid: £1.1m Back on site: all firms in Keswick and Workington except one care home, permanently shut Cockermouth: 225 flooded, 185 back, six on new sites, 34 still being repaired Tourism loss: £15.4m but situation now stable and Cumbria Tourism online bookings up 16% Lessons learned Well-tested emergency plans were robust but did not foresee scale of flood Immediate start to recovery helped morale Insurance problems caused as much distress as actual flooding Outside help almost overwhelmed admin with gifts in cash and kind Communities very resilient, specially where pre-planned with flood action groups Data collection, communication and prompt liaison with national agencies vital And finally Debris diverted to gravel industry (road repairs etc): 7,000 tonnes Smallest victims: freshwater pearl mussels whose beds are being restored by Natural England and the Environment Agency Crime: no rise in flood-affected areas