‘UK’s wettest place’ hits fiftieth straight day of rain in ‘unprecedented’ downpour

Residents in the parish of Cardinham in Cornwall have seen rain every day this year, and they’re fed up, with one person in the village describring the downpour as ‘unprecedented’

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‘Britain’s wettest place’ has today recorded its 50th straight day of rain. Residents in the parish of Cardinham in Cornwall have seen rain every day this year.

They experienced their last dry day on December 30 and have already received more than their normal rainfall for February.

Despite the bleak start to the year, it is still short of the previous longest wet spell in Cardinham, which marked a staggering 72 days of rain recorded back in 2000.

This year, the town has experienced floods and road closures – but locals are still upbeat and hopeful for a sunny day soon. The Met Office is expected to confirm later that it has officially rained there every day for the last fifty days.

Jimmy Bradley, who has lived in Cardinham since 1995, said he’d “never seen” rain like this before.

He added: “It’s been pretty miserable. We’ve got two kids and a dog, so we’ve been dragging ourselves outside for half an hour every day to walk the dog, and getting absolutely drenched.

“I work up on the moors – everything has been flooded. The roads have been flooded; the rivers have burst their banks.

“It’s been tough getting anywhere – pretty unprecedented. It’s the longest sustained heavy rainfall that I can remember.

“There hasn’t been a day since the start of the year that it hasn’t rained at least once.

“I can’t wait – my hobby is mountain biking, and it’s been pretty hard to ride – I’m pretty keen to get out in the woods again, and the kids are keen to get to the park!”

David Spurrell, who owns Woods Cafe, says the weather has made more work for him and his staff – but says they luckily haven’t experienced any flooding so far.

He said: “It’s been pretty wet – we’re right down in a valley next to the river. We’ve been making sure the drains are clear and everything stays clean and tidy.

“We have flooded here in the past – we flooded in 2009 – and we haven’t been this year, even though it’s probably just as wet.

“We live in Cornwall and spend a lot of time outdoors, and it’s been very difficult to get out and get outside with the kids.

“But the cafe is still open and we’re keeping the fire on every day.”

Mandy Worrall, who lives locally, said: “It’s been quite horrible! The rain has been incessant. The mud is just awful, it’s everywhere.

“It’s quite sad to see some of the destruction that’s happened within the woods.

“There’s lots of trees down, the rivers are flowing extremely fast – but dogs have to be walked, so we’ve been out in it every day!

“We’ve been a bit more reclusive with all the rain. My garden isn’t looking too great, which is my pride and joy. It’s a bit sad that we’ve not had any nice weather.

“I think everybody gets a little bit down when the weather’s not so good.”

Elsewhere in the UK, the persistent rain over recent weeks has resulted in ongoing flooding – with no significant break expected until the middle of next month.

Exeter, Liscombe, Camborne and Okehampton, all in the south-west, have experienced between 43 and 49 days of continuous rain.

Katesbridge, in Northern Ireland, has also received up to 40 days of wet weather, already seeing over two and a half times its February average rainfall.

The Met Office have reported that there is no sign of prolonged dry weather until the middle of March at the very least – with our weather remaining very “changeable”.