Guests forced to leave restaurant in flash flood

A restaurant had to ask its customers to leave in the middle of service after flash flooding.

Michelangelo on Warwick Road in Carlisle was one of a number of businesses affected by heavy showers at the weekend.

Owner Nikki Tinkler said they had been shut since Saturday and had since worked to clean up the premises.

"The restaurant was full, before we knew it the rain came through our doors and we were in it to our ankles," he said.

"It was very very intense in such a short space of time, we were all completely shocked."

Tinkler said having to cancel bookings for the restaurant was a "hard pill to swallow".

He added he did not know how much the damage would cost to repair, but they hoped to reopen on Tuesday.

"We're pretty much there, it's just the damage that it's done," he said.

Carlisle Cathedral Cafe posted a video on their Facebook page, showing water gushing into its basement down a flight of stairs.

Chef Hannah Thompson said it was like a waterfall.

She said: "We all got together with mop buckets which didn't really help because we couldn't really stop the flow of water that was coming into the undercroft."

She added the water was up to her ankles in places and eventually staff managed to stop it coming in by barricading the entrance.

ACT Youth Theatre had just finished performing its production of the Addams Family Musical at Carlisle College, when water entered the auditorium.

Pauley Heron, co-founder of the theatre group, said the evening performance had to be cancelled.

"One of the light fittings had water just pouring out of it, at that point I realised something serious had happened," he said.

He added the room where the props are stored had "water coming down the walls".

A Carlisle college spokesperson said some lighting circuits had to be isolated but the auditorium was not flooded.

They said: "Initial inspections indicate only minor damage, and with students having finished for the summer break, the overall impact on the college is minimal."

A video shot by BBC Radio Cumbria's Ben Maeder while off duty shows water entering The Lanes shopping centre in Carlisle.

Shoppers can be seen watching on as water enters through the ceiling panels.

The Lanes has been approached for comment.

The Met Office said the Carlisle weather station recorded just 7mm (0.2in) of rain but it fell "in a relatively short space of time" and it was likely the volume would have been higher in some areas.

"The rain would have run off very quickly due to the dryness of the ground," a spokesperson said.

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