Bridgewater Canal breach New Year's Day 2025

[gareth_r]

Bridgewater Canal breach

[shed driver]

It's a long stretch with no locks. There are some portable coffer dams that can be deployed but how effective they will be is debatable. I also wonder how keen Peel Holdings are going to be to spend money on the repairs as the canal is not part of the CRT?

SD.

[soad]

Doesn’t look good at all.

[shed driver]

I also seem to recall there was a previous breach here in the 1970s.

SD.

[indigochim]

Nasty and right by a treatment plant too. I hope people in the homes in the area are ok.

[Gareth79]

Apparently there's cranes and sluice planks positioned along the embankment sections, hopefully they are maintained...
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crane_on_B...

[ChemicalChaos]

Could be an interesting new whitewater rapids section for the adrenaline seeking narrowboat owner...

...I'm aware that's an oxymoron

[Athlon]

The dams are in but they are only really slowing it a bit, I am going past later in Sale so I will have a look at the level. It will take years to repair this (if they can be bothered) Boats not trapped in the drained area will have to go the long way round!

[Athlon]

shed driver said:

I also seem to recall there was a previous breach here in the 1970s.

SD.

That was the aqueduct just above in the pic and it dropped into the river, this is a bit of a mess, I believe they have evacuated parts of Bollington

[MC Bodge]

I was unable to drive across the Bollin, just downstream of there, at Lymm earlier this evening as the bridge was closed to vehicles and pedestrians. The Police officer told me that there were concerns about the bridge foundations, presumably after what happened to the canal. I had driven over it earlier on the day and it was closed shortly afterwards.

The A56 near Little Bollington was also closed.

The Mersey was very high (and the flood very wide) between Urmston and Carrington. The Carrington Spur was under water.

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 1st January 21:53

[shed driver]

Tractors rescuing cars from the "Mile Road" earlier apparently.

SD.

[Athlon]

MC Bodge said:

I was unable to drive across the Bollin, just downstream of there, at Lymm earlier this evening as the bridge was closed to vehicles and pedestrians. The Police officer told me that there were concerns about the bridge foundations, presumably after what happened to the canal. I had driven over it earlier on the day and it was closed shortly afterwards.

The A56 near Little Bollington was also closed.

The Mersey was very high (and the flood very wide) between Urmston and Carrington. The Carrington Spur was under water.

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 1st January 21:53

It's petty bad, the Mersey pretty much stretches from the spur to Church road in Urmston at the moment, they closed Church road at 8ish as it suddenly flooded near the golf club I don't ever remember it this bad. Turn Moss in Chorlton is a lake!
It was too dark t0 see the canal tonight.

[shed driver]

Athlon said:

It's petty bad, the Mersey pretty much stretches from the spur to Church road in Urmston at the moment, they closed Church road at 8ish as it suddenly flooded near the golf club I don't ever remember it this bad. Turn Moss in Chorlton is a lake!
It was too dark t0 see the canal tonight.

I remember in the seventies it would flood near the golf course, just before the field next to the church.

I have a vague memory of the chip shop on the corner of the Mile Road going into the Merseyside in about 1973 or so.

SD.

[Athlon]

shed driver said:

I remember in the seventies it would flood near the golf course, just before the field next to the church.

I have a vague memory of the chip shop on the corner of the Mile Road going into the Merseyside in about 1973 or so.

SD.

That's the place, the field floods often but not the road, Mile Road is still impassable and once again the farmer has lost both fields, in fact the river was almost ready to flood the old brickworks!
Horrible start to the year for some folk, the mill in Stockport that just got converted to flats flooded today and all the cars in the carpark are destroyed.

[W124Bob]

Some of those Youtube clips are taken from the GMP helicopter it was in the air right over the area at lunch time yesterday as I drove back from Lymm, several police cars passed me very quickly heading towards Lymm. We passed a on section of the A56 where half the road was underwater but that was run off from the saturated fields on the Warrington bound side, at the time we were unaware of this canal breach.
Dunham Massey park was very water logged as well, not helped by a burst water main pouring hundreds of gallons into the area.

[TUS373]

Wow.

I used to live in Lymm (Sandy Lane, Oughtrington). Loved the place. I was probably 1/2 to 3/4 mile from one of the canal aqueduct where there was a permanent muddle underneath. I was fascinated by the Bridgwater canal, it's history and the famous breach in the 1970s.

This is disaster for the area. I could never have imagined that flooding could have happened, not to mention on that scale.

[Digga]

River Mersey is also running extremely high and flooding reported on A555 by the airport.

Do people who know the area from way back know whether the river used to be dredged?

[Steve vRS]

TUS373 said:

Wow.

I used to live in Lymm (Sandy Lane, Oughtrington). Loved the place. I was probably 1/2 to 3/4 mile from one of the canal aqueduct where there was a permanent muddle underneath. I was fascinated by the Bridgwater canal, it's history and the famous breach in the 1970s.

This is disaster for the area. I could never have imagined that flooding could have happened, not to mention on that scale.

This bridge...



It was like this when I ran past it yesterday. there is another taxi stuck under the arch as well.

[Athlon]

Digga said:

River Mersey is also running extremely high and flooding reported on A555 by the airport.

Do people who know the area from way back know whether the river used to be dredged?

No, the banks were lower before the motorway so it flooded often but safely over the meadows in Chorlton etc, there was a flood sluice near Stretfod to direct the water into a flood field (It's still there but unused since the banks were raised.

When they built the motorway they raised the banks around Chorlton and Stretford, you can still see the lower banks. The soil used to raise the M60 (63 as it was) was taken from Chorlton and Sale marinas then they were flooded to make the lakes, Sale has a level tower at one end and they added flood gates to the Mersey banks so they can drop the height, it opens and diverts the water into the water park and when it fills it over tops the level tower and pours away down there. All this protects the roads and the Bridgewater and tram bridges.

Back in the day the meadows in Chorlton flooded over a huge area then they usually froze and people skated on them!

Too much building on the flood plains and poor management of the river over the years means every so often this happens, it is rare though. The river runs very high but the raised banks work along with the flood gates unless it is crazy like yesterday, most level sensors on the river were showing record highs.

I think another issue is the amount of run off into the river as well, fresh water drains & storm drains, the Mersey is not very wide at all from Stockport to the ship canal.

[Digga]

Thanks Athlon. I know the areas pretty well, but not that well. I was a student there in early 90's and, thereafter, also had friends living in various bits of south Manchester. Had a mate who lived in Bankside Road, Didsbury and I had no idea the Mersey was at the end of that road.

I always remember how flat south Manchester felt. Once you have a breach or flood, the consequences are pretty terrifying.