Carlisle Flooded

The phone rang early on Saturday morning in Cambridge where we were staying and it was Brian Doub, in charge of Communications for OM Internationally. ringing from Carlisle. 'Have you heard what has been happening. Floods have hit Carlisle. Brian had been wading through waist deep water to rescue Audio Visual equipment as the floods swirled around him.

We finally got back last night to Carlisle and are still in a dark house though we have gas.

Here is the news we have just sent out from OM.

'The flooding that hit Carlisle this weekend made international news in a
number of countries, so we thought we should update you on the
situation. It has certainly been an intense couple of days with the
worst flooding in Carlisle for many years. Most houses in the city were
without electricity for 2 days and there are still some areas which are
yet to be reconnected to the electrical supply.

At least 4 of our team households were flooded out and are now dealing
with the clean-up process of their ground-floor rooms. Some roads in
Carlisle are still closed and not everybody has been able to get to the
office today.

The garage where OMNIVision stores all their AV equipment was flooded.
Fortunately staff managed to do a hasty rescue operation and get the AV
bus and truck out onto higher ground at about 4am Saturday morning.
However, we have lost some equipment to water damage.
We are pleased to report that the ICT office itself was not affected by
the water, nobody in the team here was hurt and we are in good spirits.
The flood waters around the city are receding and things are gradually
getting back to normal. It may take a few days to get back to normal
operation, especially for those who are dealing with flooded homes, so
please be patient if it appears some things are not happening as quickly
as is usual.'

I am working on coordinating clean up and trying to make sure all of the team is doing OK. More later!!