Sarah Reilly and her partner Pete enjoyed a quiet night in on New Year’s Eve. The couple had plans to get up early the next morning and open up the coffee shop at their new business Barrowfield Dog Park in Urmston for the first day of the new year.
The couple heard rain as they went to bed and knew the forecast, but weren’t too concerned – in an area frequently affected when flooding happens, they knew the protocols.
But at around 6:30am on New Year’s Day, they came downstairs to rapidly rising water levels like nothing they had ever seen before. Within 15 minutes, their beloved new business was submerged – and with the water still rising fast, they knew they had to act quickly to save the horses grazing in their field.
“Between half past six and seven o’clock, it just exploded,” Sarah said. ”It was everywhere.”
Next door, Sarah’s business partner Laura Maher and her partner Kevin Connelly were experiencing the same. “I went out to see how far it was up the yard, then came back inside, put some clothes on, and in that time it was getting in the car,” Kevin said. “The car door was open, water was going in the car, I managed to start it.
“But usually when it comes, it comes up gradually. 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.”
He explained that usually the water levels ‘creep’ up, giving them time to move equipment and animals to safety and constantly gauge the situation.
“It usually gives you the time,” he said. “But this is like a f***ing flood has come, a tidal wave.”
The dog park is underwater
(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.
People were forced to wade into the water to collect their horses
“We’ve not had anything, nothing on when they expect the water to go down, there has been absolutely no communication whatsoever.
“If it wasn’t for the community all pulling together, people could be dead. Not animals and livestock, actual human beings.”
The Environment Agency has insisted their flood defences acted ‘as required’.
Kevin and Sarah’s eight horses have thankfully been safely rescued and taken to stables willing to help across the region. The couple shared a special thanks to Decathlon Stockport, who they said gave them 50 per cent off all the new equipment they were forced to buy after their existing blankets and feed were washed away.
But Sarah said other farms in the area have lost dogs and ponies. And for them, underneath the flood remains their dog park – a new business Sarah said she has put ‘everything’ into.
“I can’t tell you how much we’ve put into this,” she told the M.E.N. “We’ve invested a lot of time and money and effort into. Now it has all gone to pot.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the owners
(Image: Sarah Reilly)
“We’re a new business. We only opened at the end of March. That’s our livelihood. It just feels like we have a sea of money floating. You can’t get insurance for this, so we’re not insured. It really is as bad as it could possibly be.”
Sarah said she wants to speak out so the council and Environment Agency can see the devastation caused by the flooding and make sure it ‘never happens again’.
“This isn’t going to be a one-time incident if they don’t do something,” Sarah said. “There’s peoples businesses, people’s homes, people’s livelihoods, people’s animals.
“Animals have died, but next time it could be people if they don’t take this seriously.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help support Sarah and Barrowfield Dog Park. You can donate here.
A spokesperson for Trafford Council said: “The floods hit hundreds of properties and several roads in our communities and we are sorry that Barrowfield Dog Park was so badly affected.
“Alongside police and other partners, Council teams were out working hard on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to help as many residents as possible across the borough. Our flood response operation continues today, supporting residents, businesses and communities, re-opening closed roads, clearing debris and gritting where and when required.
“We are doing all we can to help those affected and we are offering our support to those suffering loss or disruption, and we thank our communities for their patience and understanding as we attend to all the issues still emerging in the aftermath of this severe weather. Taking calls from residents as well as monitoring our CCTV overviews, the Council dealt with emerging priorities, closing roads promptly and checking whether vulnerable residents needed support.”
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.”