Just hours after Manchester welcomed in the new year, parts of the region became submerged in rapidly rising water.
Coming after torrential rainfall across the north west, Greater Manchester awoke on New Year’s Day to scenes unlike anything residents said they had ever seen before. Over 1,300 people were forced to evacuate from homes and hotels, and vehicles and properties were badly damaged.
This part of the country is no stranger to floods, nor heavy rainfall – huge floods in 2021 and 2015 also saw people evacuated from homes and huge damage to public infrastructure.
But this time, some in south Manchester say they are worried flood gates were not opened until it was too late. Those in Didsbury, Stockport, and Trafford have been particularly badly affected after the River Mersey burst its banks early in the morning on New Year’s Day. The Environment Agency have insisted their assets operated as required.
At a kennels in Urmston where around 25 dogs were staying, owners told the M.E.N they didn’t receive a flood notification until around 9am – 45 minutes after the worst flooding started.
Naomi Ewen and Mike Sutherland, who run Manchester Boarding Kennels on Willow Farm, said they were given ‘no warning’ of the disastrous floods by the Environment Agency. As a consequence the pair were unable to rescue all the pups, and four sadly died.
“There’s normally a weather alert, but we didn’t have one until four hours after the flood,” Naomi said. “Between about 7am and quarter to eight the bridge was covered and we couldn’t get in.
“We have plans in place in case anything happens – but we rely on weather warnings. This time it happened in 45 minutes without any warning.”
Nearby at Barrowfield Dog Park, new business owners Sarah and Pete Reilly, Laura Maher, and Kevin Connelly were also left scrambling after the floodwater rose at speeds they said they had never seen before.
They were forced to wade through the water and rescue their eight horses – but their dog park and coffee shop is now submerged under water.
“Usually when it comes, it comes up gradually,” Kevin told the M.E.N. “No amount of rain, no matter how heavy, does this – it takes weeks and weeks to make it come up like this. Not one night of heavy rain.”
Barrowfield Dog Park also flooded
(Image: Sarah Reilly)
They say they were given insufficient warning from the Environment Agency. “Last night we were told it was a yellow weather warning which might as well be every day in the winter,” Kevin continued. “We had no notice of this.”
“I looked at the weather forecast the night before because we were opening the coffee shop on New Year’s Day and it just said heavy rain,” Sarah added. “There was nothing about flooding – if there was we could have prepared for it.
“It seems to me like someone has not opened a gate somewhere where they should’ve done, or the other way around. This isn’t normal. We’ve not had a word from the council, from the Environment Agency, no one has been to check that we’re okay.”
There are a number of sluice gates and flood storage reservoirs around south Manchester which work in tandem with each other to try to avoid situations like yesterday’s. Water is directed to places including Sale Water Park, Withington Golf Course, and once water levels have lowered, the River Mersey.
The Environment Agency said River levels on the Mersey were the highest in 66 years of records on New Year’s Day, with the peak in Stockport more than a 50cm above previous records in 1973.
Flooding in Didsbury
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Speaking on BBC Radio Manchester today, mayor Andy Burnham admitted authorities had been ‘taken by surprise’ by the voracity of the flooding.
“We were all taken by surprise by some degree. There was no named storm. There was not a particular warning the authorities gave,” he said. “I am not saying that to point the finger… but it does seem we get hit by very local torrential rain at potential locations. That might have made it a unique event.”
The Environment Agency did issue six flood warnings on New Year’s Eve for Greater Manchester, but these did not cover some areas which are now underwater. Four flood alerts were issued at the same time, which do not carry the ‘act now’ message of a warning.
They followed the Met Office delivering a yellow weather warning for rain on the afternoon of December 31.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Environment Agency teams have been working around the clock over the New Year, operating flood defences, taking action to reduce the impact of flooding, issuing flood warnings and supporting those communities affected, including in Greater Manchester.
“More broadly, we are delivering a long-term funding programme of flood defences, investing over £1.25 billion this year to scale up national resilience through building new and improving existing flood defences.
“We know providing the nation with the best available information on flood risk is vital to ensuring that policy makers, practitioners and communities are ready to adapt to flooding.”
They added they have a number of major flood schemes in Greater Manchester, with an estimated 21,000 properties protected in North West.