Around 2,000 homes in Greater Manchester were evacuated overnight due to flooding from Storm Christoph, as heavy snow also hits the region
Around 2,000 properties within Greater Manchester were being evacuated overnight due to large-scale flooding from Storm Christoph, as heavy snow has also begun to hit the region.
A senior police officer warned a flood basin in Didsbury would “over-top in the next few hours”
Four severe “danger to life” flood warnings have been put in place in the North West, including in West Didsbury, East Didsbury, Heatley and Northenden.
This comes after the Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for the rainfall caused by Storm Christoph in Yorkshire and the Humber, as well as the North West, the East Midlands and the east of England.
There are also a severe flood warnings in place in Bangor on Dee in northwest Wales, where the entire Welsh village has been ordered to evacuate their residence.
The police forces in the areas affected, have declared a major incident and told people to head to their local school and wait for the emergency 4×4 vehicles that will be arriving, rather than trying to leave on their own.
The key areas affected are:
- Didsbury
- Northenden
- Wales
- York
Over 190 “immediate action required” flood warnings are currently in force, mostly across areas in the Midlands and the North, as well as 213 amber weather alerts.
Emergency workers were brought in to protect supplies of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine as a massive warehouse in Wrexham containing the supply was at risk of damage due to flooding.
Mark Pritchard, the leader of Wrexham Council, said that there were “serious concerns” about the issue, which could have had an impact on the region’s vaccine supplies, but that workers were successful in protecting the COVID-19 vaccine warehouse.
Greater Manchester Police, as well as firefighters, were helping to evacuate homes as Nick Bailey, the assistant chief constable, warned that a flood basin in Didsbury would “over-top in the next few hours”.
This comes after the UK’s vaccines minister has said that he is hoping to target key workers in the country such as police officers, shop workers and teachers in the next phase of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
A spokesperson for Manchester City Council has said that about 2,000 homes would need to be evacuated in total.
Nelson Vasconcelos, who is a father of two, has said that he was warned of a flooding risk at his Didsbury house but chose not to leave his residence because he has no family members nearby.
“We spent all night moving things to the second floor and trying to keep the kids safe,” he said.
“We had bags packed in case we had to leave and the police told us to be ready at any moment.”
Twitter user @TonyCost posted in the early hours: “Our flats were low risk for the Mersey flooding when I checked earlier today, now they’re evacuating the ground floor, sirens, speakers, the lot. Scary stuff. Stay safe Didsbury/Northenden bunch.”
