Britain hit by New Year flood chaos: ‘Major incident’ is asserted in Manchester with individuals trapped in houses, automotive parks left underwater and canal breaches for first time in 50 years as torrential rain batters North

People have been left trapped in their homes, cars have been abandoned and a canal has breached its banks for the first time in over 50 years following torrential rain which has battered communities across north-west England. 

Greater Manchester Police has declared a major incident in a number of areas, including Bolton, Stockport and Wigan, following severe and persistent rainfall throughout New Years Eve into New Years Day.

Larger parts of Cheshire and Lancashire have also been hit, while roads in many areas have become ‘impassable’ due to flood waters. 

Some residents in Greater Manchester have been urged to evacuate their homes, the city’s council said, while others remain stranded — and one block of flats was left without running water.

Scores more needed to be rescued from cars after driving into standing water in the darkness, as the high winds and torrential rain that forced the cancellation of a string of New Year festivities ensured that 2025 got off to a similarly dismal start.

Some abandoned vehicles were submerged up to their roofs.

About 500 people were set to be evacuated from a Didsbury hotel, while 400 homes were at a lower risk with no widespread evacuation needed, police said.

About 400 occupants of a block of flats in Meadow Mill, Stockport, were also due to be evacuated on Wednesday.

A section of The Bridgewater Canal embankment near Dunham Massey collapsed overnight as a result of the heavy rain. 

Local Daniel Kaye was out walking his dog at around 9am today when he came across the scene.

He told Manchester Evening News: ‘It looked like a bomb had gone off […] as I carried on walking I could see how it had come in on itself. 

‘Where the steel supports were for the canal groundwork the embankment had just collapsed. I could see a tree had fallen down and the footpath had disappeared.’

The Bridgewater Canal last breached in 1971 — 53 years ago.

Damage was also caused to The Bridgewater Canal in Cheshire due to the severe flooding, which has overflowed into the Little Bollington area. 

Cheshire Police are dealing with the canal breach and alongside Manchester Police, they have been working to evacuate nearby properties.

The M56 westbound near Manchester Airport has been closed since the early hoursdue to a flooded carriageway. And the submerged A555 airport relief road is shut.

Chief Superintendent Colette Rose of Greater Manchester Police said: ‘Following events overnight a major incident has been declared. This is to ensure we can continue to keep people safe through a co-ordinated effort from our collective emergency services, supported by key partner agencies.

‘Anyone affected should check the relevant detail being shared by their local council, the fire service and Transport for Greater Manchester to ensure they can get the support available, which include any road closures and information centres for those displaced. It is advised to travel if it is only necessary and to take care if out and about.

‘Our officers with the fire service are in the key locations and can be spoken to if you need anything urgently, as we understand the distress those affected will be faced with as we begin 2025. It will be a continued team effort as we monitor how the weather and water levels progress throughout today.’

In Ormskirk, Lancashire, a resident shared a picture of flooding around her washing machine and fridge, posting: ‘Lived here for over 30 years and never flooded before – it is still rising.’

Train operators in the north advised passengers not to travel, with no services running between Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport, Liverpool Lime Street and Leeds.

Fire crews in Cheshire had to use rafts to rescue three people trapped in a car in Warrington in the early hours of New Year’s Day along with a further three after a separate 999 call in Lymm.

Floods minister Emma Hardy said she met officials from the Environment Agency on Wednesday to ‘ensure that impacted communities are receiving the necessary support’ and added she wants to ‘express my heartfelt thanks for the vital work that the Environment Agency and emergency services are doing to keep people safe’.

She added: ‘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.’

Helen Beau who lives in a flat inside a converted mill in Stockport told the BBC her car had been written off and she was trapped inside her home today with no running water or electricity. 

Meadow Mill on Water Street began to flood in the early hours of the morning, with almost all cars on the car park becoming submerged in floodwater.

She told the BBC: ‘There are no windows, the corridors are pitch black so it’s really not safe to walk anywhere so we’re just bound to our apartment.’

Britain will be hit by heavy snow this weekend as temperatures plunge to -10C (14F) after the Met Office activated a three-day warning for most of the country.

Forecasters expect up to 1ft of snow could fall between 12pm on Saturday and 9am on Monday, with much of England and almost all of Wales within the warning zone.

Part of southern Scotland and the whole of Greater London is also covered by the yellow alert, which meteorologists issued shortly after 11am today.

The Met Office said there was a chance of schools closing, power cuts and mobile phone coverage outages, while some rural communities could be cut off.

Travel delays on roads are also anticipated with ‘some stranded vehicles and passengers’ possible, along with ‘delayed or cancelled rail and air travel’.

It comes as a stormy start to 2025 for Britain saw dozens of flights cancelled, a ‘do not travel’ rail warning imposed and London’s New Year’s Day Parade delayed.

The annual parade through London was due to begin at midday today, but started 30 minutes later than planned and inflatable cartoon characters were not inflated after advice from the Met Office, according to the show’s spokesman Dan Kirkby.

Temperatures are set to begin plunging from early tomorrow, with lows of -10C expected in snow-covered parts of Scotland by Friday morning as well as -5C (23F) in London, -6C (21F) in Glasgow and -7C (19F) in Birmingham and Manchester.

The UK Health Security Agency activated a 72-hour yellow ‘cold health alert’ for the whole of England at 9am today, running until at least 9am on Saturday.

The Met Office said there is expected to be widespread frost overnight, followed by a ‘particularly cold’ couple of days, with the potential for widespread snow and disruption into the weekend.

Temperatures are set to be between 3C and 5C below average by day over the next few days, with a maximum of 5C (41F) to 6C (43F) in the south, and the coldest spots expected to see -10C during the nights.

Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said: ‘At the moment we’ve issued a very large snow warning for Saturday until Monday but it doesn’t mean that everywhere within that warning could see snow, it’s just a heads-up there could be some impacts.

‘It’s definitely going to start off as snow in many places but it’s a question of how quickly that snow melts and turns back to rain, it’s more likely that the snow won’t last that long in southern England.

‘It’s quite likely the warning will be updated quite frequently between now and the weekend.

‘Certainly if you’ve got travel plans on Sunday and perhaps Monday stay tuned into the forecast.’

The Met Office snow warning said: ‘Outbreaks of rain spreading northeastwards later on Saturday and overnight into Sunday will likely be preceded by a spell of snow on its northern flank.

‘Whilst there is a fair bit of uncertainty as to how far north this may spread, and how long any snow will last, significant accumulations of snow are possible, especially – but not exclusively – on hills.’

Parts of the Midlands, Wales and northern England are most at risk of disruption, where 5cm (2in) or more could accumulate fairly widely, with as much as 20cm (8in) to 30cm (1ft) over high ground of Wales and the Pennines.

The warning continued: ‘This, accompanied by strengthening winds, may lead to drifting of lying snow.

‘In addition, as milder air attempts to move northwards into southern and central areas, snow may turn to a spell of freezing rain for a time, adding to the risk of ice.

‘If milder air is able to spread more bodily northwards, any snow in southern parts of the warning area may be relatively short-lived before turning to rain.’

The Met Office added that ‘given the uncertainties, it is quite likely this warning area and start/end times will be refined over the coming days as confidence increases in areas most likely to be impacted’.

Meanwhile 36 flights to and from Heathrow Airport were cancelled this morning, including 28 British Airways services which the airline said was because of ‘air traffic control restrictions across London airports due to adverse weather conditions’.

BA flights linking Heathrow with destinations such as Barcelona, Copenhagen and Nice were among those axed, as well as two round-trips to Milan. Other carriers to cancel flights at Europe’s busiest airport were Lufthansa, Swiss and Air France .

The stormy weather also caused chaos across the UK rail network with multiple disruptions and rail passengers in northern England told: ‘Do not travel’.

TransPennine Express, which runs trains in northern England and southern Scotland said ‘persistent heavy rain’ had flooded several routes, primarily in the North West.

The operator said the deluge caused ‘significant issues in Greater Manchester and Cheshire’, with travellers advised to ‘delay journeys at least until the afternoon’.

Met Office wind, rain and snow warnings were in force for parts of the UK today, with flooding bringing disruption to many of those travelling on New Year’s Day.

Large parts of England and Wales will be hit by strong winds until 3pm today, while north-west England and Wales will endure heavy rain for much of the morning.

More than 130 flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, are in place for England, 10 for Wales and 32 for Scotland.

Over the last 48 hours, some parts of the North West of England saw almost a month’s worth of rain, Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said.

Honister Pass in Cumbria saw nearly 6in (150mm) of rain, while Rochdale in Greater Manchester had 3in (77mm).

Mr Morgan said: ‘There’s still probably likely to be further flooding across the course of the day, I’m expecting further issues this afternoon. We are potentially expecting the flood situation to get worse before it gets better.’

The yellow wind warning means there is a chance of delays or cancellations to road, rail, air and ferry services as winds of up to 60mph are forecast across much of England and Wales, with gusts of 75mph likely around coastal areas and hills, according to the Met Office.

And a yellow warning for snow and ice is in force for northern Scotland until 9am tomorrow, as rain turning to snow is likely to lead to some travel disruption and difficult driving conditions on New Year’s Day, the forecaster added.

It comes after Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations, including street parties and fireworks, were cancelled due to safety concerns.

Firework displays in Blackpool, Newcastle, Ripon in North Yorkshire, and the Isle of Wight were also axed.

However, London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks event went ahead as planned.

Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service said it had been experiencing a high number of 999 calls due to flooding.

Wigan Athletic’s home League One football match against Huddersfield Town was postponed because of ‘severe localised flooding’. 

Mountain rescue teams have been deployed to help Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service deal with damaged properties and stranded vehicles.

TransPennine Express urged customers not to travel before noon today, with the rail line closed between Manchester Piccadilly and Warrington Central.

Disruption is also expected for trains between Manchester Airport and the city’s stations, as well as routes between Manchester and Liverpool Lime Street.

Trains between Liverpool and Newcastle, Hull and Sheffield were being affected by flooding, as well as lines between Manchester Airport and Redcar Central, Manchester Victoria and Scarborough, and Manchester Piccadilly and York.

Services running between Manchester Piccadilly and Preston were also being disrupted due to flooding, which Network Rail said would disrupt services running between Manchester Piccadilly and Glasgow Central/Edinburgh.

Meanwhile a spokesperson for BA said: ‘We operate hundreds of flights every day without disruption, successfully getting tens of thousands of our customers to where they need to be.

‘Like other airlines, we’ve had to make some small adjustments to our schedule today because of air traffic control restrictions across London airports due to adverse weather conditions.

‘While the vast majority of our customers will be unaffected, we apologise for the inconvenience caused and our teams are working hard to help get their journeys back on track.’

National Highways said the westbound M56 between Junction 6 for Manchester Airport and Junction 7 for Bowdon was expected to be closed ‘for some time’ due to flooding across all three lanes.

The M57 in Merseyside was closed in both directions between Junction 6 for Kirkby and Junction 7 for Switch Island, Aintree, due to flooding and the work to clear the water is expected to take some time.

And a section of the A628 Woodhead Pass between Woolley Bridge and Flouch was closed in both directions.

Other parts of the country were also seeing disruption with the M48 Severn Bridge closed in both directions due to high winds.

In Wales, Network Rail said the Conwy Valley Line between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Llandudno Junction would be closed throughout New Year’s Day because of fallen trees on the line and an assessment of the embankment.

The Far North Line in the Scottish Highlands was temporarily closed, while rail services between Dingwall and Inverness were halted due to flooding.