aAt about 3:15 a.m. on New Year's Day, Caroline McClymont looked out her bedroom window at Sankey Creek across the road. It was raining, which was expected, but it seemed a little more crowded than usual. “But there was nothing out of the ordinary,” McClymont said. “There was no sign of flooding.”
Within an hour, the entire street was under water. The home Ms McClymont, a science lecturer, had owned for 31 years with her husband Alan, an engineer, was filled with dirty water that was higher than the kitchen countertop. Everything on the first floor was covered, including the sofa, washing machine, and Christmas tree. My neighbor's car was submerged in water. “Everything is destroyed. Nothing was saved,” McClymont said. “It will take six to seven months to get back to normal.
“It's all the memories you've collected over the years, all the tiny little things that are irreplaceable. It's not just canal water, it's sewage water, so nothing can be saved.”
The damage caused by the water that is currently receding is extensive. But for McClymont and her neighbors, the flooding wasn't a surprise. Over the years, they have challenged local councils and the Environment Agency to protect the area after a series of similar incidents, including floods in 2000, 2012 and 2015, as well as last month's less severe floods. I have requested that they be improved.
Their street in Haydock, St Helens, Merseyside, is located on a low-lying area, intersected by the Sankey Canal and two streams, making it a vulnerable area. The problem worsened during the New Year's floods when water pumps installed to quickly drain the area did not work. This was apparently caused by a power outage on United Utilities' property caused when a stream levee burst.
But Mr McClymont, chairman of the Blackbrook Flood Group, which runs a WhatsApp group that provides flood warnings to residents, said simple things that could reduce risk, such as maintenance and dredging, had been ignored. Pipes meant to divert water during high flows remain filled with leaves, and she and Alan often rake them themselves after heavy rains. A promised telemetry system to monitor water levels is still not operational, and residents say they are still adjusting it.
“We've been fighting this problem for years,” she said. “People say, 'Why don't you just move?' But we can't afford another house, and now that it's flooded, no one will. So we're stuck here. ”
A few doors down, microbiologist Chris Moles, 60, who moved in last year with her husband Adrian, a 53-year-old hotel manager, left £30,000 worth of belongings including a car, kitchenware and a MacBook. I think it's lost. Her microscope, fossils, rare books, and an autograph from Mr. Spock's Leonard Nimoy. “Obviously, we're alive. We all survived. But this is the worst thing ever,” she said. The couple also lost the work of Adrian's son Adam, 15, who died of Addison's disease five years ago. “If he had been able to preserve his drawings, he would have lost everything else,” Moles said.
Before buying her first home in April, she said she was promised protection measures were in place and the chance of flooding was “very low.” “We were told that they did this and that and that there was a very low chance of flooding. That was not true,” she said.
“It's heartbreaking. I understand there are a lot of people who need help. There are a lot of places that are flooded. But if this had happened four or five times, you would think they would have done something.” You pay your city taxes and you trust the people in charge to act in your best interest. And that's not happening. We've literally been left in the lurch. ”
Seven miles away in Bewsey, Warrington, residents near another section of the Sankey Canal faced a similar fate. Vulnerable people living in supported housing were the hardest hit after streams leading to the canal overflowed.
Among them was Barbara Gee, 61, who was cooking a New Year's Day meal for her husband of 42 years, Alan, 67, when water started pouring in. At about 3:30 p.m., she looked out the front window of her bungalow and saw this: Stadiums and roads were submerged.
It looked like it was trespassing. But after the 2021 floods, the couple were given a flood barrier to install on their front door by the housing association that manages the site.
Gee sent her daughter Liz a photo of the floodwaters reaching her doorstep. “Oh,” Liz replied, asking if the sea wall was working. “For now,” Gee wrote back. But within 30 minutes the defense was overwhelmed. She said the water didn't just flow through the front door, but into every room, gushing out of the bathroom drain, seeping through the toilet and through the walls. “I was crying. I just had tears in my eyes,” she said.
The couple lost almost everything they owned. On Friday, three days after the flood, their property, contaminated and destroyed, lay in a heap on the lawn in front of their house. The pile included a sofa, kitchen appliances, carpet and Gee's electric scooter.
The alarm system to call for help in an emergency has malfunctioned. Their clothes and shoes were soaked. “Four trash bags of food are gone from the freezer and everything is wet,” Gee said.
They are stoic and grateful and have families who support them. And they are grateful to local Warrington City Council for helping them stay in a hotel while they try to sort things out. But they feel that they and their neighbors are being ignored.
“The flood defenses didn't work. We need to make them safer. We've been receiving shelter and food assistance. You can't knock them for that. They tried to put up a flood wall, but it didn't work. Maybe they thought it would help. But if water came through the wall. Then what’s the point of having a sea wall?” Gee said. The clean-up will take months, but she couldn't afford household goods insurance “because of the cost of living” and because it was “too expensive” after the last flood.
So do neighbor Jeffrey Frain, 78, a lollipop man and former bus driver whose belongings are piled up outside his bungalow. “I think it's very expensive to get insurance here…The last time there was a flood, the premiums went up,” he said. He said the sea wall provided by the housing association was a “waste of space”.
“We put up a sea wall, but within minutes water was coming in. We tried to wipe it out, but in the end we gave up,” he said. “It's devastating for me. I have a dog. I live alone. I'm with one of my sons, but he feels like a burden and I don't like to impose.”
He added: “The flooding has been going on for years. This is an ongoing issue and I don't think they're doing enough.”
Back at Haydock, the cleanup mission is in full swing. Volunteers arrived on Friday with cleaning supplies to clean toilets and bundle destroyed belongings into skips.
The McClymonts, one of the few families able to get insurance, have their driveway covered in 20 black bags because they have to store everything until the adjuster comes out.
Amy, 25, who lives a few doors down with her stepfather Richard Coleburn and mother Joanne, said the worst part is that she feels this could have been prevented. “It’s traumatic,” Amy says. “Every time it rains, we get traumatized. We need to stop worrying about it anymore. I think it's strange. It happened about 10 years ago. How can it happen again?” Will it happen?”
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Protecting local communities is our top priority…Environment Agency teams will be working 24 hours a day throughout the New Year to operate flood defenses, issue flood warnings and assess impacts. We are supporting the affected communities.”
“More broadly, we are delivering a long-term funding program for flood defenses, with over £1 billion this year to expand national resilience through building new flood defenses and improving existing flood defenses. We are investing in
Adam Hug, environment spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said: “Councils will always do their best to ensure their areas are as resilient as possible and will prioritize efforts to keep residents safe when responding to severe weather, but financial pressures on local authorities are severe. The impact on our ability to cope with problems such as flooding…
“The people are not sufficiently prepared.” [for the impacts of the changing climate]And central government needs to prioritize collaboration with local governments to close this gap. ”
Regarding the flooding in Haydock, United Utilities said: “A local stream burst its banks and the pumping station was flooded. This caused a power outage on our property. We sent a tanker to the area to manage operations.”
