Published February 19, 2016 at 16:05
Persistent rainfall is expected across north-west England over the weekend. The heaviest rain will fall across parts of Lancashire, Greater Manchester and the western parts of Yorkshire. There is a risk that some communities in these areas will experience river and surface water flooding of roads and properties later on Saturday and on Sunday.
Rossendale is currently on a Amber Alert for rainfall for Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st February.
We are working closely with the Environment Agency and Lancashire County Council to prepare in case we get Flood Warnings.
We have cleaned priority culverts and trash greens in preparation. We have also requested that the Environment Agency staff the pumps at Irwell Vale and look at putting the flood barrier in place at Stacksteads if required.
Information on sandbags can be found here; http://www.rossendale.gov.uk/downloads/download/315/flooding_be_prepared_advice_leaflets
Environment Agency teams are monitoring the situation and will issue flood warnings and alerts as required. The public should avoid driving through flood water: just 30cm of flowing water is enough to move your car. People can stay up to date with the latest information on .gov.uk or following @EnvAgency on Twitter.
Craig Woolhouse, Environment Agency Duty Flood Risk Manager, said: “Persistent rain over the weekend means that we could see some flooding in the north-west of England. Our main attention is on Lancashire, Greater Manchester and western parts of Yorkshire. There is also a low risk of river flooding into Monday for larger rivers including the Ribble, Mersey and Severn which take longer to rise. Environment Agency teams are out on the ground clearing rivers of blockages to reduce the risk of flooding. We are monitoring the situation closely and will issue flood warnings and alerts where necessary.”