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Revision as of 15:44, 6 January 2025

In 2025, the United Kingdom experienced flooding. In early January, severe rainfall caused floods across Greater Manchester and Leicestershire.

January

New Year's Day floods

Around 90 mm (3.5 in) of rainfall in 24 hours brought floods to parts of England and Wales on New Year's Day, prompting the Met Office to issue severe weather warnings; this led to 137 flood warnings being issued by the Environment Agency across England, Scotland and Wales, with extensive flooding affecting parts of North West England, especially Greater Manchester. A major incident was declared by Greater Manchester Police in response to flooding across Bolton, Didsbury, Harpurhey, Stalybridge, Stockport and Wigan, as well as parts of Cheshire and Lancashire.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service reported that they had attended over 100 incidents and evacuated almost 1,000 people as a result of the floods: 400 from flats at Meadow Mill in Stockport after they lost electricity and water supplies; 445 from a hotel in Didsbury after power and water supplies were cut off; around 50 other properties in Didsbury; and some evacuations in Platt Bridge. City centre canals overflowed and the River Tame and River Mersey reached record highs in places; the latter meant sluice gates had to be opened at Fletcher Moss Park where a car was submerged. Around 100 people attending a New Year's Eve event were stranded in Harpurhey. Floods also occured in Cheadle, where a tributary of the Mersey flooded roads and homes, and Broadbottom, where a wall collapsed onto cars and homes were flooded. Three people were rescued from a car submerged in floodwater in Warrington.

Flooding also occured in Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside and Yorkshire. Part of the Bridgewater Canal's embankment collapsed near Little Bollington, causing water to pour out and inundate surrounding fields; Cheshire Police had to evacuate properties, a sewage treatment works was flooded and part of the M56 motorway was closed between Manchester Airport and Bowdon. The Sankey Canal in St Helens burst its banks, submerging cars and houses in Haydock in several feet of water. Flooding also occured in Lymm, where three people were rescued from a car, Ormskirk, where homes were flooded, and Ribchester, where a brook burst its banks and flooded houses. The M57 motorway was closed between Kirkby to Aintree due to flooding. The River Ure burst its banks near Wensley, North Yorkshire, flooding the A684 road and surrounding fields.

Numerous train lines were blocked by floodwater leading to cancellations across the North West. Trains did not operate between Manchester and Manchester Airport and Liverpool Lime Street, or from both Liverpool and Manchester to Huddersfield, Leeds and York. The line between Manchester Piccadilly and Warrington Central was blocked, as was the line between Todmorden and Rochdale.

References

1. Howard, Jacqueline; Fawkes, Chris (31 December 2024). "Homes flooded in Greater Manchester as storms hit New Year's Day". BBC News. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
2. ^ Humphries, Jonny; Mullen, Tom; Trewern, Mat (1 January 2025). "Hundreds forced to leave homes as floods batter region". BBC News. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
3. "Flooding response moves from rescue to recovery as major incident stood down". Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. 2 January 2025. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
4. ^ "Major incident stood down after widespread flooding sees 1,000 evacuated and a canal to collapse". ITV News. 1 January 2025. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
5. Laville, Sandra (2 January 2025). "Embankment of 18th-century canal in Cheshire collapses after flooding". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
6. "Motorist left stranded in floodwater in Wensleydale after River Ure bursts its banks". ITV News. 1 January 2025. Retrieved 4 January 2025.

• United Kingdom
• Weather
• Water

• 2020s floods in the United Kingdom
• 2025 floods in Europe
• January 2025 events in the United Kingdom
• 2025 disasters in the United Kingdom