Heavy rain in northern England and other parts of the country yesterday has caused flooding, road closures and rail services cancelled across the North West, North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands.
According to the Met Office 19mm of rain fell in the North West between midnight and 08:00 BST, on top of heavy rain which had already fallen on Sunday and Monday.
Cheshire Fire and Rescue service have declared a major incident due to the severe flooding in Poynton, which is currently ongoing.
Firefighters are working alongside police officers, the emergency services and Highways England to attend the areas and the people affected. Shortly after 5.30am firefighters were called to reports of a car trapped in flood water in Warrington where crews found the driver standing on the roof of the vehicle.
At the weekend firefighters were also called to the A555 in Cheadle following reports of a tipper truck trapped in flood water. The water was estimated to be one metre deep and two swift water raft operatives used a raft to get to the driver.
The A555 in Stockport will remain closed between the Woodford Oil Terminal and the A34 – the road has flooded for the second time in a week on Wednesday.
Network Rail has been advising passengers in Cheshire, the North West and Cumbria to check before they travel as landslips and flooding caused by heavy rain are affecting some journeys.
Network Rail is working several locations to clear debris, lower water levels and reopen railway lines so trains can run again as normal.
Affected journeys and locations include:
- Services between Crewe and Chester after a landslip at Beeston Castle
- Services between Leeds and Carlisle after a landslip at Dent
- Services between Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester Piccadilly because of flooding at Kidsgrove
- Services between Salford Crescent and Wigan because of flooding at Daisy Hill
- Services between Buxton and Manchester Piccadilly because of flooding at Furness Vale
Phil James, from Network Rail, said:
“The majority of the railway is unaffected but landslips and flooding caused by heavy rain are affecting some services. We are doing all we can to clear lines and reopen as normal.
“I’d like to thank passengers for their patience and my advice is to check before you travel and allow extra time for journeys which have been impacted.”
The Met Office said that showers will ease from most places, although a few may continue along North Sea coasts. The outlook for Saturday to Monday will stay mixed with warm sunshine and scattered showers becoming more widespread again, but often heaviest in the north and west.
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.