At least 1,3000 people were evacuated across Greater Manchester amid severe New Year’s Day flooding as a major incident was declared.
Houses, flats, shops, businesses, hotels, green spaces and car parks were flooded amid torrential downpours. Heavy showers started on Tuesday evening (December 31) and continued overnight into Wednesday morning (January 1).
Parts of Greater Manchester saw more than 80mm – three inches – of rainfall in 24 hours, causing rivers to burst their banks and roads to flood. Some 72 flood alerts were in place across Greater Manchester as the region woke up. By Wednesday evening, 16 remained in place.
MAJOR INCIDENT LIVE: Hundreds rescued by boat, hotel and homes evacuated and submerged cars abandoned amid horrendous flooding
Flooding led to havoc on the roads as stretches across the region were shut. Cars were abandoned after becoming submerged. People in blocks of flats were trapped, with lower floors underwater.
Homes and hotels were evacuated, with residents left unable to return in the worst-hit areas of Didsbury, Trafford, Stockport and Wigan. Areas in other parts of south and north Manchester and Tameside were also impacted. Emergency refuge centres have been set up across the region.
READ MORE: In pictures: Major roads submerged, cars left floating and homes cut off as ‘severe’ flooding hits Greater Manchester
Hundreds of people were rescued by emergency services on boats. Incidents, led by Greater Manchester Police, saw 400 people evacuated from apartments in Stockport; at least 500 rescued from a hotel in south Manchester; and 400 others saved in the Didsbury area.
Electricity North West estimated around 2,800 properties were, at one point, experiencing power outages across the north west. The ‘vast majority’ were in in Greater Manchester.
Police, alongside paramedics, the fire service, mountain rescue teams, local councils and TfGM coordinated multi-agency responses to the severe flooding across the region. Police later confirmed no serious injuries were reported.
At Meadow Mill in Stockport, more than 200 people were stuck inside on Wednesday morning after waking up to find the entire lower floor underwater after the River Tame, which runs past the converted mill, burst its banks.
Dozens of cars in the car park outside – opposite the Tesco superstore – were underwater. Isabella Cubrilo, 28, was among those inside the building. She said corridors were plunged into darkness after the power failed. “It was pitch black in the corridors,” she added.
-Credit:Manchester Evening News
“That was really freaky… no emergency lighting. [I looked] out of the window and saw my car submerged in water – it’s still there now. Lots of firefighters started to arrive. They were starting to blow up boats.
“We all had to stay in our rooms, it was freezing cold. There was no heating or anything, no running water. It was really scary. It was really stressful, really scary.
“We were sellotaping bin bags around our legs because it was dirty water. The cars were leaking diesel. It was still pitch black in the mill, but the fire fighters put in temporary lighting.
“They were lowering people into the freezing cold water. You had to wade out of the mill into the car park. There were so many firefighters – they were super helpful.
The rescue operation at Meadow Mill, Stockport -Credit:Manchester Evening News
“We had to queue up while we got hosed and decontaminated because of all the chemicals. You had to stand in a hot, soapy paddling pool.
Isabella added: “I got in from New Year’s Eve festivities at about 1am, probably went to sleep at about two. I woke up at 6am covered in water, soaking, wet through.
“I tried to turn my lamp on and there’s no power, I had a leak in the ceiling, through the ceiling light water pouring down. I checked my phone and saw lots of messages saying ‘stay in your apartments, the river’s burst its banks’.
-Credit:Isabella Cubrilo
In neighbouring Manchester, the Britannia Country House hotel on Palatine Road, Didsbury, was evacuated. It is thought that as many as 500 people were saved, including asylum seekers.
It came after the River Mersey partially burst its banks. At least 400 homes were evacuated elsewhere in Didsbury. Sarah Baram, 40, who lives in a top floor apartment, described how a woman in her block was trapped with her two young children.
Holding her son in the rain on Palatine Road, she said: “At 7.30 this morning we came out and everything was fine. At 9am, I came down in the lift, opened the doors to the car park and all of the water started pouring into the lift.
Emergency services in Didsbury as people were evacuated from a hotel -Credit:JMG Press
“We came outside through the stairs and the water level then, I’d say, was maybe only calf deep. We went to the garage to get the car and it was probably knee deep in the basement.
“We came back at 11am and the water level had risen half a metre or so. Now, we have been stuck, not expecting we wouldn’t be able to get back in. We’ve got no stuff. He [her son] doesn’t even have any trousers bless him.
“We’ve been stuck out really since 9am. We are a bit stuck as it will be a few days of not being able to get pack in. I’ve asked if there’s a way to get back in and get all our stuff so we can go to my mum and dad’s in Wales.
“They [emergency services] said they will be doing the rescue now for another maybe four hours because they still have hundreds of people to get out. After the hotel, there are a couple more apartments there.
“It was how fast the water rose that was the scary thing. Our neighbour, bless her, was stuck in there with two under-twos on her own with no water or electricity. It’s been awful.
“At least we got the car out, because it is left in our car park that has completely flooded now. Luckily we got out and are safe, but we just have nothing.”
Nearby Fletcher Moss Gardens was submerged with cars seen completely covered by the flood water.
Nightclubs in Manchester city centre were evacuated soon after revellers rang in the new year. Factory nightclub, on Princess Street, was forced to make a ‘full evacuation’ at around 1.15am after the River Medlock rose ‘substantially’ and flooded the building’s basement. Nearby Joshua Brooks was also forced to shut.
A section of the A555 Manchester Airport relief road was flooded, forcing the stretch to be shut. Cars had been abandoned in the high waters. It remained shut overnight on Wednesday.
A woman is evacuated in Platts Bridge -Credit:Facebook
Dramatic footage showed a woman being rescued in an inflatable boat in Platt Bridge. Rescuers were seen pushing the woman across the surface of the water.
Iceland and Home Bargains were surrounded by water as hundreds of Wiganers were without power. GMP said on Wednesday night that due to weather easing, Bolton, Harpurhey and Stalybridge were ‘no longer areas of serious concern’.
The force added: “In addition to working directly with the Environment Agency and Highways England, due to the declaring of a major incident, and reports being received around damage, risk to life and stranded vehicles.
Flooding in Platt Bridge, Leigh -Credit:Ryan Jenkinson | Manchester Evening News
“The response is still significant whilst we continue to determine who needs to be displaced from their homes as a last resort for purely safety reasons whilst we collectively monitor.”