Floods devastate Lake District in northern UK; many rescued

British soldiers conducted house-to-house searches and the air force deployed helicopters, dropping down and breaking through rooftops to pluck out people trapped by the flooding. Authorities had no firm figures yet on the number of rescued.

At least 960 homes were flooded by water up to 8 feet (2.5 meters) deep after a day of unprecedented rain, police in the northern region of Cumbria said.

Heavy rain and gales also brought widespread flooding to Ireland, as more than 3 feet (1 meter) of water shut down the center of the country's second-largest city, Cork, and more than a dozen towns and villages.

Among the hardest hit communities in England's Lake District was Cockermouth, a market town 330 miles (530 kilometers) northwest of London. The town, at the junction of the Cocker and Derwent rivers, is known for being the birthplace of poet William Wordsworth.

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