POLICE hunting for an officer who went missing after a bridge collapsed during heavy flooding in Cumbria have found a body.

POLICE hunting for an officer who went missing after a bridge collapsed during heavy flooding in Cumbria have found a body.

Cumbria Police said that a male officer was unaccounted for after a bridge near Workington collapsed overnight - cutting off the gas supply to the town.

Pc Bill Barker, 45, was directing motorists away from Northside bridge in Workington, Cumbria, when he disappeared into the swollen waters of the River Derwent early today.

Police in the area are also searching for 11 people who have been declared missing.

The bridge is said to have collapsed at around 4.40am after torrential rain caused a river to burst its banks.

Cumbria has been the hardest hit by the weather with main roads blocked and schools closed.

RAF helicopters airlifted at least 50 people from buildings in nearby Cockermouth - with more than 200 people in the area being forced to leave there homes overnight.

Police said that around 960 homes were at risk of flooding.

The Met Office said that the village of Seathwaite in Cumbria recorded 6.8in of rain in just 24 hours - while another 5.9in could fall on the Lake District by midday today .

A spokesperson from Weatherquest said: “In Cumbria they have suffered from large accumulations of rain that have been continuous.

“Locally, this weekend we will see a lot of southerly wind, but it the weekend will mainly consist of sunny spells with the possibilities of showers.”