Flood-affected villagers in Braithwaite made their voices heard at a drop-in session on Wednesday.

Experts from the Environment Agency, Cumbria County Council and Allerdale council were available to chat to at the session, which was organised by the National Flood Forum.

At a mobile trailer in the Royal Oak pub car park, people raised concerns including insurance issues and explained how the floods unfolded in the village.

Pam Andrews said: "I live at the first house the river comes by and there used to be a footbridge there that washed away.

"They're having to dig out the flood defence pool because of all the landslides.

"I'm here to try and find out if we can improve that situation.

"I know people's houses are really important but once that's done it would be good to clear some of the general mess before spring because it's a tourist area.

"I do think it's good for people to be listened to, everybody's talking to each other."

Dan Bond, manager for the Environment Agency, said: "You can't underestimate the devastating impacts of flooding to people's lives and the key to recovering quickly, and increasing our flood resilience in the long term, is to listen to the people who experienced it first hand and learn from their experiences.

"We've been visiting affected communities since the flooding began in early December, and these drop-in sessions are the start of a more coordinated approach to involving local people in the development of local flood risk management plans.

"We would encourage anyone affected by flooding to come along and talk to us."

Sessions were also held in Cockermouth town centre and Gote Road yesterday and are due to continue in Flimby and Maryport tomorrow.