A clear up operation is underway after a major incident was declared in Greater Manchester when flooding forced homes to be evacuated and closed train lines and roads following heavy rain. Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes on Wednesday as heavy rain battered the region..
Mountain rescue teams were deployed to help Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service deal with damaged properties and stranded vehicles. The North West and parts of north Wales saw heavy rain on Wednesday, which comes after the Met Office said some parts saw almost a month’s worth of rain within 48 hours.
In Wales on Thursday morning, Natural Resources Wales has flood warnings and 11 flood alerts in place after heavy rain in parts of the north. The warnings are on the River Severn at Buttington, on the River Severn in the Welspool area and in the Pool Quay area, also on the River Vyrnwy at Llanymynech. Get the latest Welsh headlines delivered free to your email inbox.
Back in Manchester and around 450 people were evacuated on Wednesday evening from a Didsbury hotel, while 400 homes were at a lower risk with no widespread evacuation needed, police said. About 400 occupants of a block of flats in Meadow Mill, Stockport, were also evacuated.
Floods minister Emma Hardy said she met officials from the Environment Agency on Wednesday to “ensure that impacted communities are receiving the necessary support” and added she wants to “express my heartfelt thanks for the vital work that the Environment Agency and emergency services are doing to keep people safe”.
She added: “The Government is working at pace to accelerate the building of flood defences through our new Floods Resilience Taskforce, so we can continue to protect people and their homes.”
Flooding on Palatine road in Didsbury, Manchester
(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
Flooding on Palatine road in Didsbury, Manchester
(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
Councillor Bev Craig, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “We have been working closely with the police, fire service and Environment Agency through the night to monitor water levels across the city – and provide support and guidance to our residents who might be affected.
“Some residents have been asked to evacuate where the Environment Agency has issued flood warnings, and these residents have been contacted directly and supported.
“Thankfully we are seeing signs that water levels are beginning to fall, and it is unlikely that further evacuations will be necessary. However, water levels will continue to be monitored over the coming hours.”
Tom Coulthard, a geography professor at the University of Hull from Didsbury, south Manchester, said they have had 70 to 80mm in the Greater Manchester region after measuring it on a rain gauge at his home.
“It started raining heavily at about 5 or 6pm on Tuesday evening, and then it just rained hard all night,” Prof Coulthard told the PA news agency. All the local rivers and water courses have sort of filled up and flooded around the area.
“All around this part of south Manchester, Cheadle, bits of Cheshire, there’s been local flooding. Roads closed. The motorway was closed, the M60, the M56 to Manchester Airport, that was all closed off.
Flooding on Palatine road in Didsbury, Manchester
(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
“The last record level was set in Didsbury in February 2022, these record levels in the rivers around here are tumbling every year or every couple of years. That’s really probably a sign of just how our weather is changing, how climate is shifting this.
“This is in line with all sorts of the predictions that people in my profession have been talking about for 20 years or more, the impacts of climate change will be sort of warmer, wetter winters.”
A number of train routes have been disrupted or blocked by flooding, mainly in the north west of England, with some Northern services, TransPennine Express services, Transport for Wales services, and South Western Railway services affected.
National Highways said a section of the A628 Woodhead Pass between Woolley Bridge and Flouch is closed due to flooding, as is the westbound M56 between Junction 6 for Manchester Airport and Junction 8 for Bowdon.
In Bristol, the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol has been activated by Bristol City Council and homeless charity St Mungo’s, which will run until January 8, which will see increased outreach shifts and more accommodation made available, with the aim of ensuring nobody has to sleep on the streets during such extreme weather conditions.
After the rain, it looks like snow is the latest risk. A three-day yellow warning for snow has been issued for almost all of England and Wales and parts of Scotland this weekend as the Met Office warned that rural communities could become cut off.