September 22, 2025
Web desk
After more than 20 hours of relentless rain, large parts of north-west England woke up to flooded streets, abandoned cars, and overwhelmed drainage systems.
In Greater Manchester, areas including Altrincham and Salford saw vehicles stranded by rising water. Swinton was among the worst affected — after about 04:00 BST, three men had to be rescued from a car trapped in floodwaters.
Officials issued 28 flood warnings across the region, covering Greater Manchester (Trafford, Stockport, south Manchester), Cheshire, Merseyside and Lancashire. In Warrington (Cheshire), a major standby incident was declared due to high water levels, though it was later downgraded once conditions began to improve.
In Penketh, which is at the bottom of a slope, local resident Raymond Wright described the situation as “scary” — all the rain from upslope flows down and the drains are clearly not coping. He said flooding like this is a regular occurrence after a few hours of heavy rain. Thankfully, a local councillor arranged for a pump to help remove the worst of the water.
By late Sunday morning many of the warnings had been lifted as floodwaters receded.
