TORRENTIAL rain caused thousands of pounds of damage when a pond behind Bardsea's Old Mill Restaurant overflowed.

Ulverston fire brigade spent two-and-a-half hours pumping out rooms, which were left several inches under water after the deluge on Sunday night, September 17, which saw a whole week's worth of rain fall in just 24 hours.

Floodwater from the pond rushed up through the toilets in the lowest level of the restaurant, flowed through corridors and on to carpets.

Restaurant owner Nick Burrows estimated the cost of the damage at thousands of pounds.

"This is the third time this has happened this year," he said, "Now when it starts raining, one of us has to wait up because there's a very strong chance of us being caught out.

"My wife is pregnant and it's very, very distressing."

Anne Goodier, of the Environment Agency, said it was aware of the problem but there was little it could do as the pond was on private land belonging to the Burrows' neighbour.

Mr Burrows spent Monday and Tuesday mopping up and it was business as usual in the restaurant on Wednesday.

The weekend downpour also brought problems for motorists.

Traffic heading north into Kendal on Monday morning was diverted through Natland and Brigsteer after the A591 between Prizet and Shenstone flooded.

Cumbria County Council said the problem was caused by a blocked culvert and said its engineers would change the culvert grill to prevent problems there in the future.

Elsewhere, rain-swollen rivers prompted the Environment Agency to issue Flood Watch alerts for the whole of South Lakeland, Furness, Eden and the Lune Valley, but no Flood Warnings were necessary.

l Yesterday (Thursday) the Meteorological Office forecast some rainfall and some heavy showers on Friday, but said the area would see a general improvement over the weekend with little chance of heavy rain.