A man has died and hundreds of families have been forced from their homes across the UK as Storm Desmond brought severe flooding and winds of up to 80mph.

Bridges have collapsed, rivers burst their banks and landslides have been triggered by the torrential rains in northern England and Scotland.More than 50,000 homes in the North West were left without power after the flood defences at a major electricity substation were breached.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Twitter that the army had been deployed to help those affected by the floods and a Cobra meeting had been called.Electricity North West said it was unlikely its engineers would be able to survey the damage until lunchtime on Sunday but were doing "all they could" to restore power.

In Carlisle, Cumbria police said there was a "major risk" two more electricity substations could flood - which could cut power to 60,000 homes.