THERE are many questions to be asked of the various utilities companies and government agencies over how last weekend's storms caused such havoc and misery across Cumberland, Westmorland and beyond.

Obviously the devastation wrought by the River Eden in Appleby, Carlisle and surrounding areas was both the most dramatic and also the top priority when resources were thrown at dealing with the emergencies.

After the waters have finished subsiding and the mopping up been completed, there are likely to be months of stress and heartache still to come for householders, land owners and businesses alike.

A lot of the necessary repairs and replacements will be covered by insurance, but experiences elsewhere in the country indicate that insurers will be unable to assess the amount of restitution due to policy holders until after the affected premises have dried out.

They could mean a significant delay before replacement furniture and other goods can by bought. That is without the family heirlooms and mementoes lost forever.

The consequence of claiming against insurance policies, of course, is that premiums will go up next time, so this is scant comfort.

Then there are the wider environmental concerns as to why such extensive damage is caused in the first place. Building on flood plains, destruction of wetlands, even the cutting down of hedgerows are just some of the actions of man blamed for increasing the impact of extreme weather.

The Environment Agency is rightly having a comprehensive review of what can be done to mitigate for some of the excesses of nature. It may well be that their best weapon will be increased powers to head off problems before they arise.

In South Lakeland and north Lancashire where the main agent of destruction was wind rather than water, the chief frustration has been poor communication.

As United Utilities acknowledge in their advertisement in this newspaper, their task has not been an easy one.

With a quarter of a million homes and businesses suffering power failures, even 800 people working round the clock have as yet failed to repair all the damage to the electricity network, water and wastewater treatment works.

But the main gripe of consumers seems to be the inability to get vital information of where they come on the company's priority list and when normal service was likely to be restored.

For whole communities across the area to be without electricity for a whole week, with all that implies in lost heat, cooking and light, is bad enough.

But the real cause of mounting fury has been the inability of the company's call centre to give out any meaningful information.

With an accurate and honest assessment of the time restoration of services was likely to take, customers could have made alternative arrangements.

They could also have done with some reassurances about the real danger posed by overhead power cables strewn across the countryside, which no one at United Utilities seemed able to give even when the telephone call got through to a human being as opposed to the infernal automated message.

The utility companies are due for a major injection of investment this coming spring. They need to make an urgent assessment of what could have been done better over the last seven days, and spend that money wisely if their reputation and public confidence are not to join the list of victims of this storm.

A bank of phone lines that could, in emergencies, be manned by staff who know what's going on would be a good start.