Residents evacuated after homes flooded

The emergency services were called to Pool Street in Poolstock after the locks had been opened at around 11.30pm.

Large amounts of water poured out of the canal and into the street, getting into up to 12 houses.

Simon Connor, crew manager at Wigan fire station, said: “They have caused large amounts of flooding on Swan Meadow Road. The whole of Swan Meadow Road was under water.

“Unfortunately the water started to pour down into the roadway and started to flood bungalows where elderly people lived.”

The residents were helped from their homes and housing officers attended to help to find them somewhere to stay.

Mr Connor said: “We had old people in bed who were getting out of bed and underwater. They were having to walk around in freezing cold water.”

Fire crews started to pump the water away into the River Douglas, but water was still coming from the canal.

British Waterways arrived and fixed the locks, so the water could be pumped out of the street.

The firefighters stayed for three hours until the water had been removed.

Mr Connor said: “By the time we left Swan Meadow Road was totally clear.

“Unfortunately it left bungalows totally uninhabitable by the people who live there.”