with the flood waters of Stock Beck flowed back under the railway where it crosses the A6 road, thus rejoining the river below the Victoria Bridge gauging station. Peak flows downstream at Sedgwick were per second. Nearly 2,150 properties in the town were flooded as a result of the highest river levels ever recorded. The areas most affected were Mintsfeet and Sandylands. At the southern end of the town, the sewage treatment works was inundated, and the water caused serious damage to its main outfall. Properties at Helsington Mills were also flooded, with water levels of up to . Once the water had subsided, 7,000 tonnes of gravel were removed from the gravel trap, a further 7,000 tonnes from Gooseholme and 3,000 tonnes from near Romney Bridge. Smaller amounts were removed from other locations in the summer. In November 2018, the Environment Agency submitted plans for the first phase of a £30 million scheme to improve flood defences in Kendal. This involves the construction of flood gates, flood walls and a pumping station at Gooseholme. As a result of public consultation, plans for flood walls near Abbot Hall Art Gallery and Kendal Parish Church had been modified to be less intrusive. To complement these engineering solutions, some more natural flood management techniques are being trialled. In 2020 work began on a small demonstration project at Town View Fields, a park in central Kendal. The work involved replacing around of stone culvert carrying Dyers Beck with a meandering channel, running into a small wetland area. This slows the release of water at times of high flow into the main river system. The project, which was implemented by South Cumbria Rivers Trust, was the first urban daylighting scheme undertaken by the Trust, although they have previously implemented rural schemes. Most of the funding came from DEFRA's Natural Flood Management programme. Wildlife The river is a designated Special Area of Conservation, covering , primarily as an important habitat for the endangered White-clawed Crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes). This species is prolific, particularly in some of the tributaries of the Kent, where it exists in densities higher than almost anywhere else in England. The river is also an important site for bullhead and the endangered freshwater pearl mussel. It is a designated watercourse of plain to montane levels, which means that it is characterised by populations of water-crowfoot and water starwort, which can form floating mats