The body of the father-of-four, who would have celebrated his 45th birthday on Saturday, was found on a beach almost 10 miles up the coast at Allonby.
His wife Hazel said her husband was "my best friend, my forever friend and an amazing dad", while Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid tribute to his "heroic" qualities.
Cumbria Constabulary said more than 10,000 people had signed up to a tribute on its Facebook page.
In nearby Cockermouth, where water reached 2.5m (8ft 2in), boats and RAF helicopters rescued more than 200 people after rainfall expected for an entire November fell in one day across west Cumbria.
Forecasters say recovery efforts may be hampered by rain through Saturday but that it is unlikely to cause major problems or get near the record 314.4mm (12.3in) for a 24-hour period recorded at Seathwaite Farm.
The BBC's Liam Dutton said the rain would not be as intense or as lengthy as the downpours in recent days.
"It will move through and turn drier thereafter," he said.
It was estimated that 1,100 homes across Cumbria were affected by flooding, with several hundred people displaced and more than 1,000 households left without power.
Four bridges collapsed in the county and schools were used as makeshift community centres after the deluge struck.
Three RAF search and rescue helicopters and two RAF mountain rescue teams had been drafted in to help recovery efforts, with more than 50 people rescued by helicopter.
About 150 more had been helped to safety by the RNLI and other emergency crews.
The Environment Agency said its Floodline service received more than 12,000 calls in 48 hours after the "unprecedented" rainfall.
It says the severe flood warnings still in place in Cumbria describe conditions posing a threat of "extreme danger to life and property".
As well as the other 14 standard flood warnings, it has issued 31 less serious flood watches across England and Wales.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has five flood warnings and 14 flood watches in force.
Drivers have been warned of "treacherous" conditions across much of Dumfries and Galloway where fire crews have been called to rescue a number of stranded motorists.
Up to 40 businesses were flooded in Dumfries and about a dozen roads in the surrounding area remain closed.
In north and mid-Wales, roads were closed and train services disrupted, and a brief power cut in Anglesey affected 2,000 homes.
The flooding in Cumbria is the latest in a series of severe flooding events to hit the UK in recent years.
More than 1,000 houses and businesses in Carlisle, Cumbria, were overwhelmed by water in January 2005, when the city suffered its worst floods since the 1820s.
In June and July 2007 torrential rain lashed the country, flooding Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Wales, the Midlands and the West Country. Among the worst-hit towns were Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire and Upton upon Severn in Worcestershire.
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