The costs incurred by Allerdale council in its emergency response to December's floods have been revealed.

The council spent more than £300,000 on its response in the wake of the storms that battered the borough.

Over £126,000 of that was spent providing community support.

Street clearance work adding more than £64,000 to the bill, while staff costs topped £52,000.

Of the authority's total floods spending, more than £244,000 is eligible for the Government's Bellwin scheme, which reimburses councils for the cost of responding to disasters and emergencies.

The scheme cover costs surrounding immediate actions to safeguard life and property or to prevent suffering or severe inconvenience.

It covers costs incurred by the council up to March 4.

The council must contribute almost £26,000 to these costs, meaning it will expects to receive more than £218,000 from the Government.

It also incurred almost £56,500 worth of costs that were not eligible for the Bellwin scheme.

A spokesman said much of that money was spent replacing litter bins that were destroyed or washed away.

Council staff were at the forefront of work to help flood-hit communities.

Among their efforts they worked at command centres managing the situation, delivered flood sacks and manned reception centres in Keswick, Cockermouth and Workington.

Once the initial emergency phase of work had passed, council staff and contractors worked around the clock to clean up the affected towns and remove flood-damaged goods.

Some 800 tonnes of flood-damaged belongings were taken away in December alone.

Officers manned advice centres in Flimby, Cockermouth and Keswick and went door-to-door in other areas.

Councillor Barbara Cannon, executive member responsible for finance, said: "I believe that this council magnificently rose to the occasion and did the best for the people of Allerdale.

"This council acted first and counted the cost later because our job is to put the welfare of people first."