Appeal set up to help residents of Wigan street affected by New Year's Day floods

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Donations have been pouring in to an online fund set up to help the residents of a Wigan street badly affected by flooding.

People in several parts of the borough were forced to leave their homes on New Year’s Day as heavy rainfall led to flooding, with Platt Bridge, Abram, Bickershaw and Leigh among the areas involved.

One of the streets which was badly flooded was Lincoln Drive, in Ashton, where there was serious damage to 10 properties and more than 50 others were affected.

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Major incident stood down after New Year's Day floods in Wigan and across Greate...
Flooding on Lincoln Drive, Ashton on New Year's DayFlooding on Lincoln Drive, Ashton on New Year's Day
Flooding on Lincoln Drive, Ashton on New Year's Day

Coun Danny Fletcher, who represents Ashton-in-Makerfield south, said Wigan Council sent out alerts warning of possible flooding on New Year’s Eve, with Ashton mentioned as a particular risk.

A major incident was declared in Greater Manchester at 4am on New Year’s Day after heavy and persistent rainfall throughout the night.

Coun Fletcher said: “New Year’s Day is when the full impact of the flooding took effect. We had hundreds of houses in the Lincoln Drive area without power for hours. Some only came back on Thursday. We had some people having to vacate their properties because of flooding.”

The council opened a reception centre at Ashton Leisure Centre, providing refreshments and housing support for residents, as well as transport to and from Lincoln Drive.

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Emergency services and partner organisations worked to address the flooding and power cut, as well as provide other support.

The Eagle and Child pub and The Coffee Shop both opened their doors to provide food and drinks for residents until 10pm on New Year’s Day.

The floodwater has since been pumped away, but the clean-up operation continues for residents, with some having to stay with relatives.

Coun Fletcher said: “We have some residents who are having issues with their insurance already, with regards to what they are entitled to or not. Some are finding in the small print that it doesn’t cover flooding.

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"It’s not the best of situations for a lot of people and not how they wanted to bring in the new year.”

But the community is continuing to rally around and hundreds of pounds have been donated to an online appeal set up by Coun Fletcher.

He initially set a target of £500, but that was quickly surpassed as people continued to contribute to help those affected.

He will speak to the residents to see how they want it to be spent for the benefit of as many people as possible. Ideas so far include preventative measures such as sandbags for any future flooding or a social event.

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It is the third time in just four months that houses on the street have flooded, with Coun Fletcher saying this occasion was “the worst it’s ever been”.

He has asked the council to come up with a plan to prevent more flooding in the area in future, working in partnership with other organisations such as the fire service and United Utilities.

Coun Fletcher said: “It’s about everyone coming together and coming up with a medium to long-term solution to this.”

Donations to the appeal can be made at www.gofundme.com/f/lincoln-drive-flooding-ashton.

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