David Cameron to visit flood-hit areas as more rain forecast

Prime Minister David Cameron will visit areas hit by devastating floods as northern England and Scotland brace themselves for more heavy rain later this week.

The Government has faced criticism after multimillion-pound defences built following catastrophic floods in 2005 failed to keep the deluge out from people's homes in Cumbria, the county worst affected by Storm Desmond.

In Carlisle, the Army was sent to help support emergency services as they spent a second day evacuating people from their homes in streets where cars were almost entirely submerged.

But while the rain and heavy winds, which prompted the county to declare a major incident, subsided on Sunday, the Met Office issued yellow weather warnings for the rest of the week and forecast "persistent rain".

Mr Cameron chaired an early morning meeting of the Government's contingencies committee Cobra in Whitehall to discuss the latest situation with ministers and emergency service chiefs and oversee the official response to the flooding.

Following the hour-long meeting, the Prime Minister said: "I've just chaired a Cobra meeting on the floods. There'll be further announcements this morning - and later I will visit badly hit areas."