City chiefs have pledged to do their utmost to protect Carlisle from future flooding, while admitting there are “no absolute guarantees”.

The comments came as councillors discussed a report into the lessons learned from Storm Desmond, which wrought havoc in 2015.

Members of the Health and Wellbeing panel yesterday praised officers for the way they had dealt with the crisis which caused Cumbria-wide devastation.

The report sets out the steps that have been taken with other organisations including the Environment Agency to keep the district as safe as possible.

But Councillor John Mallinson warned: “I think we were probably a lot more confident after the 2005 floods that the measures put in place would keep us safe – and 2015 proved otherwise.

“All we can expect is assurances that we would be safe from a flood of a certain magnitude. However, with the consequences of things like climate change, we are always going to be wondering just how bad it can get.

“All we can do is use the best endeavours to get as safe as we probably can but I don’t think anybody will be in a position to give absolute guarantees, which I think is regrettable, but we must do our best because I know there are people living in the shadow of it. It must be a terrible thing.”

Mr Mallinson made the remarks after Councillor Abdul Harid sought “assurances” from the report’s author Steven O’Keefe that the flood defences planned for the city would offer enough protection.

Stephen Sidgwick, vice chairman of the panel, also warned it was difficult to

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predict where a flood would hit and how it would affect the city.

He said: “Some of the flood resilience worked – an example is Denton Holme – but just up the road in the area that I represent it was particularly bad.

“We can only predict so much.”

Panel members also recognised that the jobs of officers had been made “doubly difficult” because the council’s own headquarters – the Civic Centre – was flooded.

Mr Sidgwick said: “Council reacted tremendously when our hostels for homelessness were taken out of action.

“We did not turn anybody away in subsequent years – we managed to find accommodation for these poor vulnerable people which is obviously going to be a priority.

“We also mustn’t forget the contributions from employers like McVitie’s who have taken the initiative to provide their own flood defences in cooperation with ourselves.

“Hopefully it won’t happen again but if it does, we should be prepared for the possibility it might not happen in the same way.”

Storm Desmond flooded more than 5,500 homes and 1,000 businesses, damaged or destroyed 792 bridges and nearly 400 km of major road and 44 schools.

Responding to the report, panel chairman counillor Jack Paton, chairman of the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Panel, described it as “unacceptable” that there were still people who are still not back in their homes after three-and-a-half years.