It wasn’t the nest of starts to 2025 for one disgruntled resident who woke up to find herself trapped in her apartment building and her car “ruined”.
“There’s no way in or out,” TikTok user Hannah Beau penned alongside a video recorded from her window at at Meadow Mill in Stockport looking down at the dismal scene below, on January 1. Her clip began by showcasing the block’s car park with dozens of parked vehicles almost fully submerged under water following a horrendously TikTok end to 2024.
“I’m on the fourth floor so it’s obviously not going to reach us, but my car is underwater – it’s definitely written off,” she said as she panned her camera around the vicinity. “[Rescuers] are handing water up to those on the first floor in a boat, and the emergency services are on standby.”
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Just yards from the flooded car park sat four ambulances, three fire engines and a police car having responded to the emergency unfolding. “We have no power, no transport, no clean water,” Hannah cursed. “So this is a really great start to 2025. I’m accepting thoughts and prayers.”
Two hours later she returned to her platform to reveal firefighters had provided her with water and the flood level had began to drop. However, she pointed out that an “oil spill” had now engulfed the area below her abode, causing further concerns for the authorities. “The road looks disgusting – it’s covered in mud,” she added, before explaining that work was underway to evacuate the “elderly and vulnerable”.
Hannah continued: “So far we’re being told just to stay put.” She then headed into a corridor within the building using candlelight to get around. “I feel like I’m from the Victorian era and ironically this building is a former Victorian mill,” she joked.
In a third video, Hannah revealed that television news crews were now reporting live at the scene, whilst the oil was causing the area to “stink”, adding insult to injury. “If I don’t laugh I’ll cry,” she added. “I’ve lost my house and my car on the first of January!”
By now, Hannah’s updates were beginning to go viral – not least a fourth video which quickly amassed over well over one million views in a matter of hours. “Mountain rescue are now here now and they’re checking over everyone’s cars,” Hannah said. “I shouted down to them and most of them aren’t secure – they’re destroyed. They said water has gone in pretty much every car.”
Although the ground was now visible, Hannah admitted: “It’s still not looking good. We still haven’t been evacuated but it looks like some progress is being made.” Finally in a fifth clip, her evacuation was underway after being told to “pack bags” by rescuers. The move saw Hannah and around 400 others transported to a council refuge centre at Holdsworth Mill in nearby Reddish. “People are in shorts because we’re going to have to be sprayed down and ‘anti-bacterialed’ and hosed down on the way out,” she added at the end of her clip.
“Please, please make sure to take anything you need important, you will be out for a while!” one of Hannah’s followers urged in the aftermath. “It’s happened to me before take important docs with you, medication etc.” A second suggested: “Get rucksacks! Put on back cross over bag to take things with you.”
A third hit out: “Shocking that they let the drainage deteriorate to the point of flooding bet the drains haven’t been cleared in years.” Whilst a fourth penned potential further woe: “Insurance will be a pain as they will try and claim it was a act of god and try to wiggle out of it.”
Responding to the incident, meanwhile, Greater Manchester Police’s Chief Superintendent Colette Rose said: “We are continuing to monitor the whole of Greater Manchester as we look to co-ordinate the emergency response involving a variety of services. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service have been key to this to ensure we can keep those people and communities safe after the severe weather we have had.
“Thankfully, due to the efforts of all involved so far no one has been seriously injured or come to harm and would like to thank members of the public for their continued co-operation especially around the road closures in place and looking out for each other. Anyone still affected should continue to check the relevant detail being shared by their local council, the fire service and Transport for Greater Manchester to ensure they can get the support available that may be needed.”
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