North West flooding: Warnings remain as clean-up starts

A major clean-up operation is under way after hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes due to flooding across north-west England.

Torrential rain began on New Years’ Eve and left huge areas of Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire flooded.

Greater Manchester Police, which declared a major incident, said it had been a time of “disruption and distress” and officers were supporting displaced residents.

Twenty flood warnings remain in place across the North West, along with new snow and ice alerts.

Evacuation centres have opened in Wigan, Stockport and in Ormskirk, Lancashire, to support those who had to leave their homes.

Four hundred residents had to be evacuated from flats at Meadow Mill in Stockport after water flooded the car park and lower floors. The rescue operation lasted 12 hours.

Despite the water now subsiding, people said they had been told they may not be allowed to return to their properties until Friday due to the clean-up work and power being restored to the building.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said they evacuated 115 flats at Meadow Hill.

Steve Twinn of GMFRS said: “Hopefully between the building owner and the local authority they can start to manage people, eventually back into the premises, although we do know that could be probably a minimum of 24, if not 48 hours”.

Five hundred residents also had to be evacuated from the Britannia Hotel in West Didsbury.

The Environment Agency said river levels would remain high across parts of the region today and were urging people to stay away from swollen rivers and not to drive through flood water.

Several roads remain closed across the region, including in the Platt Bridge and Ashton areas of Wigan, Rainford and Parbold in Lancashire and Northwich, Warrington and in Cheshire.

National Highways said the westbound carriageway of the M56 between junctions 6 and 7 had now reopened after being closed due to a collapsed aqueduct at the Bridgewater Canal.

Diane Taylor, a narrowboat owner who is currently housed on the Bridgewater canal at Dunham Massey, in Cheshire, told the BBC that she usually travelled along canals in the North West every two to three days but because of the flooding, it had prevented them from being able to move.

She said: “Personally, I think we might be stuck here for months.”

Gabrielle Dainty, who lives in Lymm, in Warrington, told the Today programme that her house flooded on New Year’s Eve as the “bell struck”.

She said: “It was really unexpected.

“We flooded just after Storm Christoph and we saw that coming and we were prepared, we had never flooded before but we had time.

“This year, we didn’t have time, it was all done and dusted within hours and it was really quick.”

She said the road flooded and residents spent some time clearing drains and getting things moving but “it came to a point where we needed to go inside and save our things”.

Ms Dainty said she was currently living upstairs in her home due to having no support from the council or letting agents, as their home is owned by HS2.

Residents in the area said that following Storm Christoph, flood defences were placed outside the doors but this time Ms Dainty said the water came through the floor which made the defences “useless”.

Professor Steven Broomhead, chief executive of Warrington Borough Council said the council was not “slow off the mark” in the recovery and clean-up operation.

“We have spent the last 24 hours totally focused on supporting individuals and businesses and prevention to risk to life,” he told the Today programme.

“We have evacuated 140 people, 35 pets to two rest centres and our focus is now on the recovery situation, not helped of course by now, deteriorating weather with the ice.”

He said the council and emergency services had worked really hard to deal with the situation in Warrington which was “totally unexpected”.

Some train and bus services are being cancelled or subject to delays.

Northern said it had cancelled or altered services between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield and New Mills Central due to severe flooding.

The Bee Network said tram and train services had largely been restored but ice was now causing delays and cancellations on some of its services on the Manchester Airport line and at Cornbrook.

About 3.5in (90mm) of rain has fallen widely across north-west England over the last 24 hours with more than 3.9in recorded on some hills in north Wales and Cumbria.

Flood water has started to ease but a new weather warning for ice is now expected.

The Met Office said about 5cm of snow is expected across northern England over the weekend.