Environment Agency urges caution following rain over New Year

Heavy rainfall has brought significant river flooding across Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancashire and Yorkshire, with the highest river levels on record being reached on the Mersey in Stockport and South Manchester.

The Environment Agency isurges warningpeople thatto ongoingremain floodingvigilant, impactsas flood warnings are likelystill toin continueplace and a mixture of further rainfall and melting snow could risk further disruption in parts of England todayon Sunday and Monday.

This comes as riversthe continueMet toOffice respondissued followingtwo recentamber widespreadwarnings heavyfor rain.snow and ice over the weekend. While not expected at this time, melting snow can affect river levels and the Environment Agency will be monitoring this closely.

People in affected areas should follow advice from emergency services and take caution, particularly while travelling.

Those travelling over the Newweekend are Year are urged to stay away from swollen rivers and to plan ahead aswhen rivermaking andjourneys surfaceas water flooding impacts arehave possiblecaused disruption across locations in Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Environment Agency teams remain on Sundaythe ground supporting the public as we move into the recovery phase of its response and Mondayare duestill tooperating furtherflood raindefences and rapidlybasins meltingto snow.manage possible impacts.

As of 14.1512:00 on ThursdayFriday 23 November, there are 114 flood warnings and 4431 flood alerts. The Environment Agency estimates that more than 21,000 properties have been protected and at least 47300 properties have flooded, with reports of further flooding being investigated.

Floods Minister Emma Hardy has met with staff from the Environment Agency and MPs in affected areas to discuss the response to the heavy rain and flooding, and to ensure that communities are kept safe and receive the support they need.

The Environment Agency continues to monitor the forecast and impacts on river levels. Its message to the public remains to check their flood risk, sign up for free flood warnings and keep up to date with the latest situation.

Ben Lukey, Flood Duty Manager at the Environment Agency, said:

AsCombined arainfall, resultsnow ofand recentsnowmelt widespreadover heavythe rainweekend means minor river flooding impacts remain probable in parts of England today. Minor river and surface water flooding impacts are possible onin Sundayparts andof MondayEngland dueon toSunday further heavy rain and rapidly melting snow.Monday.

Environment Agency teams willcontinue to be out on the ground, operating flood defences, taking action to reduce the impact of flooding, issuing flood warnings and supporting those communities affected.

We urge people to remain vigilant over the weekend and advise anyone travelling to be especially careful and urge people to stay away from swollen rivers and not to drive through flood water as just 30cm of flowing water is enough to move your car.  car. 

People should search ‘check my flood risk’, sign up for free flood warnings, and keep up to date with the latest situation at @EnvAgency on X.

Floods Minister Emma Hardy said:

My thoughts are with the people, businesses and communities impacted by flooding, particularly those in and around Greater Manchester.Manchester and Cheshire.

I have met with officials from the Environment Agency and MPs to ensure that impacted communities are receiving the necessary support and I want to express my heartfelt thanks for the vital work that the Environment Agency and emergency services are doing to keep people safe.

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.

Lessons learned from these floods will be fed directly into the new Floods Resilience Taskforce to speed up the development of flood defences and bolster the nation’s resilience to extreme weather.

The Taskforce brings together the Secretary of State and Minister Hardy with representatives from Defra, MHCLG, Home Office, Cabinet Office, the Environment Agency, the Met Office, Local Resilience Forums, Mayoral Offices, emergency responders and the National Farmers Union, among others.