driving instructor. now on bbc news. last christmas was dominated by storms and floods. a year on, chris jackson reports for inside out on the recovery process for the people of cumbrian and lancashire. last winter flooding devastated lives and homes across the north. this is a story of resilience. of anger. we were told we were not a priority, go move your stuff upstairs, you're going flood. and of how the people of cumbria and lancashire regrouped and rebuilt. open! as storm desmond approaches, cumbria police declare a major incident.

stop! residents in carlisle are bracing themselves. i'm thinking the worst really. the water has breached the city's flood defences. ijust need to speak to this old couple. we've got a drain in our back garden. it's coming up through the drain in our back garden rather quickly i don't want you to stand out in the cold. all right. some people are grabbing what they can and leaving. not much we can do really. just get out. methodist ministerjohnny gios captures life as a modern—day noah on his phone.

this is absolutely bonkers. the floodwater on sandilands road is three—foot at least. we're at a house in sandilands road where we're going carry two children to the church for safety. are you ready, chris? this is the showing community coming together, isn't it? yeah. unbelievable. never ever seen anything like this. stay away from kendall, that's all i can say. 30 miles away sue cashmore has retreated upstairs. well, here we are, a repeat of 2009. just five—foot of water in the house at the moment, but i'm sat up here in the dark, candlelight with my little dog. unfortunately this time no insurance. i don't know what i'm going to do.

across the north, floods wreak havoc. daylight and scenes of flooding on a biblical scale. part of the a591, the main road through the lakes, is no longer. the 250—year—old bridge that gave pooley bridge its name is gone. for ron and denise, salvation

comes from the rnli. i'll take your bag. and questions are being asked. we were told that it was going to be after these defences it was a once in a 250 year event and here we are ten years later, £38 million and ten years later, a bit of a waste of money i think. but it isn't over. three weeks later, on boxing day,

lancashire feels the brunt. sue proctor‘s garden centre isn't insured for flooding. it were gushing. it werejust like a river coming through. all the car park were filled up. it happened so quick really, as the river is coming in it's taken palets down, shelves over, all the things were going through the door. the glass is cracking in the greenhouse. with the force of the water at the side of the cafe, and basically it were just like sheer devastation. we built it up and yeah, it's just like heartbreaking really to lose it all down the river. the big clean—up begins, rebuilding lives will take much longer. a huge chunk of alan's garden has been swept away.

how water so strong could have ripped the whole of the bank away, it was riverbank plus the garden, and taken it all the way down under the bridge. i think flooding is going to be here to stay and i think there's going to be a lot more water coming. the rain will continue as another band of rain pushes down from the north—west late morning. again, that is likely to get heavy in places... there is no let—up. storms continue to batter the north. weatherman: heavy and persistent spells of rain overnight and throughout the day tomorrow... glenridding has flooded four times. andrew, who runs an outdoor shop, is at the end of his tether. since the start of december it's been storm after storm after storm. just as you are getting on top of it, another storm comes, fills the beck up with more water and we have more sleepless nights. that's just been ongoing for about eight weeks now.

and there are few customers around. here's my cash book. there's a lot of days with no figures here. i didn't take anything there, nothing there, nothing there. it's not happy reading. it's not. in the heart of the lakes, it's eerily quiet with the a591 closed, grasmere finds itself at the end of the line. at the gingerbread shop, takings are down £20,000 in one month alone. what we are suffering with now is the perception of cumbria as a whole is closed for business which it quite clearly isn't. we're very much open. with early spring, revival.

0pen! cheering. music to the ears of people in pooley bridge, they're reconnected. and then after three... cheering. and the main road through the lakes is back in action. this is an exciting occasion, isn't it? it's one of those first signs that cumbria is beginning to turn the corner after some of the tragedy, difficulty and darkness of the last few months. it is a tremendous occasion and one

that everybody will welcome. remember for a very long time. it's great for the businesses and it's great for the area. yes, really pleased. our biggest problem at the moment is there are hundreds of properties and there are only so many tradesmen. clive's flat, which he rents out, is right next to the new flood defences and he had no insurance cover. as a landlord he can't get affordable insurance so he's looking to sell. i can categorically say if i was able to get some flood insurance in the future i wouldn't be auctioning the flat. i would be doing it up and putting it out for a tenant again. the auction is packed.

i2 flooded houses are on offer. some at half their pre—flood price. some are hoping to pick up a bargain. you nodded your headfirst and then shook it. 47 with you, sir. third and final time. selling. are you sure? well, done, sir. it went very well as you can see by the smile on my face. i got more than my reserve by about £3,000. it went for £47,000 and my reserve was £44,000. so i'm very pleased. it has been a bit of a worry, but someone else's worry now. 200 sleeps since storm desmond.

tessa has made it back home. and it's heaven. honestly, the simple little things, being able to sit on your own sofa, and go to your own bed, and go to your own bathroom, use your own shower. but the stress of the floods has taken its toll. i don't mind admitting that last night i was in tears on the sofa going, it's great, i'm home, but is it only going to be for six months? is it going to happen again? i'm struggling to get my head around just being in a routine and being back home and will we be lucky?

tessa's business also flooded and she had only minutes to save what she could from home. loaded our two motorbikes into the back of the van, with the cat, my son, his favourite guitar, an overnight bag and off we drove to my dad's. i've got cctv in the shop, i dialled in and watched my shop go under water. these are screwed to the wall, but you can easily pull them forward when they are empty and get behind and wash them. the base units are all moveable. sue, who was trapped upstairs, has

made radical changes to her house. last year she couldn't afford the insurance for her house but thanks to a new scheme called flood re, she has now cover. we've got the first step that the average homeowner can get it. i think that's a starting point. that's the way we need to look at it. it is a first step on the ladder. so i am thrilled that it has happened. but work has only started on christine's rented house. everyone on this row, they're all old—aged pensioners. it has made a lot of them illjust with having to put up with everything, not knowing what's happening. we're kind of in limbo. we are now in our, what, our eighth month. and we were nowhere near it. we just don't know, and it is beginning to get us down. if i didn't have my work, i think i would end up being in hospital by now.

it's just so heartbreaking. yeah. evening, ladies and gentlemen. the frustrations boil over at a public meeting. we were told it was a one in100 year meeting. we were told it was a one in 100 yearflood meeting. we were told it was a one in 100 year flood and meeting. we were told it was a one in 100 yearflood and we meeting. we were told it was a one in 100 year flood and we were right next to the flood defences. we were told we were not a priority. go and move your stuff upstairs because you are going to flood. flood defences... i am speaking. you let

all the water come onto riverside terrace and down the road. for the man in charge of cumbria's flood defences, it has been a torrid year. some people in this room have suffered hellish misery yet again. it is quite fair and reasonable to expect them to turn up and be both interested and curious about what is going on and what is challenging. we are doing the best for them here in the town. 0ut the town. out and about, andy knows he has got his work cut out to win over the doubters. work is going on to clear the rivers ahead of the winter and everyone is keen to see progress. it is cleared.

that needs cleared. what will happen is we're going to be worried this year, at christmas, when this water comes, that enough isn't getting under there. like many across flooded areas, alan believes silted rivers and blocked bridges caused much of the damage. the puddle was formed because it couldn't get under there. as i say the county council will start this week. when they have done their work we will be there and clearing out the channel. brilliant. you are going to clear out under there. spot on. what caused all these problems is that bridge. however these educated people try to tell us that it wasn't, we have seen it first—hand. we experienced it. a flood report earlier this year recommended ways to improve the water flow under the bridge should be investigated. in cockermouth, much to the relief of the locals, dredging of the river has started.

we're doing this because it's the right thing to do. but we're doing it mindful that it is reassuring to the public. that's why in a sense we're doing it as publicly as we can to make it very clear to people that we are doing this work and what we're doing and why we're doing it. evidence of flooding is easy to spot. just over here on the right—hand side on this tree, you see a blue ribbon has been tied around the tree. that's marking, it has been put on by a community group to show how high the water got. they were rightly very keen that as the months and weeks passed that people shouldn't forget how bad things got. but for tessa, who has moved in back at home, there's been a change of heart.

it was delightful to get home, but it felt like it was on borrowed time. when it starts raining again, will it happen again? it's just psychologically i knew i couldn't deal with that and go through that again. so we made the decision that we had to sell up, so we did. not that we've got £70,000 to throw away. but to me, i couldn't go through that again. it was a no—brainer. walk away, it's not my problem any more. alan is definitely staying put, but taking matters into his own hands. with all the protection i've put in, that's the rock, the flood boards are going on the front and these pumps in each doorway entrance, we should stand a good chance of it not going through the same impact

as we had on boxing day. let's hope so. welcome, everyone. thank you so much for giving your friday up, whether that's a morning a couple of hours... johnnie from the methodist church is not waiting for divine intervention. he's found people to perform a minor miracle. we're just helping out paint this house and help the flood victims get back on their feet, really. people are still in their houses. whereas we go back to our nice warm houses. we want them to be in theirs as well. they're getting on very quickly. quicker than what i thought they would. but they're doing well. i heard about this opportunity. ijumped at the chance and thought, we'll do

whatever we want them to do. so, it was this lovely lady's garden. i didn't know where to start. i looked, i thought i don't know where to start. it is fantastic. even the bishop of penrith is out again to lift the spirits. this is a gift from the local community. it's been a bit of a rough time recently, hasn't it? and ijust wanted to bring a little bit ofjoy and smile into people's lives. 0h, thanks very much. it's a bowl of flowers. my wife will love that. 0urs got washed away. thank you very much. you are very welcome. would you like me to leave it outside? that's really nice. thank you. the grasmere show is in full swing. and it's as popular as ever. andrew, from the gingerbread shop, is looking to the future.

from the first day that the road had reopened it's not skipped a beat. as i'd always said, every day counted. and i was proven right. from the first day we hit target and we've not missed beats since then. no, the record won't be broken today. it is too slippy up there.

but they have run well. here they come. what a fantastic finish! there's a lot of good features. there is nothing draft. nothing gimmicky. i am down on last year, but not massively down. people in february were coming in saying they would get a pair of gloves and socks to support us. if they needed them or not, just to help us out. it has been a good year this year — people keen to support us. yes, it's been good. it has cost us in the region of £30,000. even more. you cannot put a definite price on it because of the amount of stuff we lost. it was a bit quiet to start with when we first reopened. people obviously thought we were still shut. overall, we've been 0k.

autumn, and plenty of colour in the lakes. here they come... it's great to welcome all these visitors to our village. it's lovely. really good. to see everybody get together like this again, to see pooley bridge full again, it is fantastic. it is lovely to see so many people here on such a positive occasion.

having had so much trauma over the last year. it's just wonderful to get people to the village, isn't it? involved in something like. the weather stayed great for us. after a year of hard work and heartbreak for some, one thought is never far away. something needs to be done with the flood defences now. or we could be standing here next christmas with four feet of water, or maybe six feet of water. i remember looking out of this window watching the river come up and up and up. every time it rains, i do dread it.

it is a worry. you don't know if it will happen again. if it happens again, i don't think we can survive this time. people who didn't talk to each other, next door neighbours, now talk to each other, ask how they are doing, looking out for each other. in people's minds and attitude, the flood is still around and reminders of that flood are still around. my son said to me the other day, "do you think we'll have a christmas tree this year?" that's like, wow! yeah, hopefully. good morning. some treacherous weather, very present for me to drive this morning, around the thames valley, and this was the picture in croydon and our ago,

looking very thick indeed even in greater london. —— in croydon an our ago. this was in torquay. the fog will let, but it is very slow in places, and is very icy, as welcome at so many of the roads are very slick, as well as poor visibility —— as well, so many of the roads are very slick. that is how extensive it was in east anglia and the midlands and the south—east and even now it is still pretty foggy in the south. in the north there is wet weather which hardly moves across scotland, we have the cloud across northern ireland and northern england, it will be the same during the day. regarding the fog, it will be there until midday, and then it will slowly lift, but that is a slow process , slowly lift, but that is a slow process, and even when it does, we are process, and even when it does, we a re left process, and even when it does, we are left with cloud hanging over the head of the misty, foggy weather. it

will be quite cold. the south and east have the best chance of sunshine but on the whole it will be disappointingly cloudy. especially compared with the lovely sunshine yesterday. it would be a grey and wet end to the year in the northern half of scotland in particular. blowing a gale, continues to the evening and overnight, but the consolation prize with wind and cloud, it will be mild and the frost will not be as extensive as it was this morning. the frost and fog limited to southern areas, but there will still be a concern nevertheless. we change the story tomorrow, the rain comes into scotla nd tomorrow, the rain comes into scotland and northern ireland eventually, and it is mild, even in the south, 8—10. but it won't stay mild for long, the wind behind the rain is bringing snow to the

scottish mountains, arctic air, so for many people it will be a damp new year's eve. hogmanay and northern ireland, it will be dry and cold. a brief cold snap as we arrive in 2017, and there are warnings out for the fog on the website. this is bbc news. i'm gavin esler. the headlines at 10.00. moscow promises retaliation, after president 0bama expels 35 russian diplomats in the us election hacking row. as russian officials are given 72 hours to leave the us, sanctions are ordered against moscow's intelligence agencies and named individuals. the russian prime minister says president 0bama is ending his term in anti—russian agony. the syria ceasefire between the government and rebel groups appears largely to be holding. drivers are told to take care in fog and freezing conditions, as a coach overturns on the m40 in 0xfordshire injuring 17 people. a warning that national parks are under threat —

as figures suggest government funding has been cut over the past five years. also in the next hour: learner drivers could be allowed on motorways. it's part of proposals to give learners a voluntary target for a minimum number of lessons before taking their test. and in half an hour victoria derbyshire takes a look