Warning service extends to Wigan homes and businesses affected by New Year floods
Residents and business owners whose properties were inundated with water on New Year’s Day will now receive warnings about any imminent risk of flooding.
The Environment Agency has expanded its flood warning service to include the Platt Bridge area, as well as Cheadle and Stockport.
Several feet of water flooded into properties on Templeton Road and the surrounding area on January 1 after heavy and persistent rainfall, with people evacuated from their homes.
The new flood warnings cover almost 800 homes and businesses and will see a message issued when flooding is forecast and then again to warn people if they are likely to be affected.
They will tell people about the risk of flooding to their home or business and help them to make decisions about how to respond.
There are three types of warning – flood alert, flood warning and severe flood warning.
Residents can register for the new service for free and choose to receive notifications via phone call (voice recording), text or email and by fully registering, they can sign up to receive warnings for multiple locations.
The new flood warning areas have been added as a result of new modelling and data – part of the Environment Agency’s drive to improve the flood warning service.
Laila Berry, flood resilience team leader, said: "We know all too well the devastating impact that flooding can have, which is why protecting people and communities is our top priority.
“Our staff use the latest technology to monitor rainfall, river and tide levels 24 hours a day to forecast flooding.
“The extension of our flood warning service will allow even more people across Stockport, Cheadle and Wigan to take action and stay safe if flooding is likely to occur.
“We would encourage all of those people in new flood warning areas to fully register their preferred details via .gov.uk or Floodline for free, for both their safety and peace of mind.”
Home and business owners will be auto enrolled to the service via their mobile network.
However, to get the most benefit out of the service, the Environment Agency is encouraging people to register directly by calling Floodline on 0345 988 1188 or visiting flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/warnings.