Lancashire could be hit by flooding, as more rain to come

Lancashire County Council is asking people to leave extra time for their journeys as work continues to deal with flooding incidents following this morning's heavy rain.

The council's highways teams have been very busy today attending incidents around the county where flooding has affected roads, and there are still some road closures in place for safety.

Much of the localised flooding to highways happened due to local drainage systems becoming overwhelmed by the heavy rain.

Any standing water should drain away as the systems clear, however people are urged to report any ongoing issues so that highways teams can investigate.

County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "We've been hit by a period of really stormy weather over the last few hours, and are still dealing with some of the impacts on our roads.

"If you need to travel, please leave more time for your journey and be particularly cautious as there is still standing water in some places, and there may still be some emergency road closures in place. Please stay safe if you are out and about, and don't drive into flood waters.

"Any standing water should eventually drain away, but if there does appear to be a bigger problem please let us know so that we can investigate."

The county council maintains over 300,000 roadside drains with those most at risk of becoming blocked being checked most often.

County Councillor Swarbrick added: "At this time of year we very often find the cause of blocked drains is simply leaves lying on top of the grate which act like a plug and stop the water flowing down.

"If you're concerned that a highway drain is not flowing this could be the cause. If it’s safe to do so please consider brushing the leaves one side to see if that works, and if possible also clear the leaves away.

“However, please only do this if it’s safe as we would never want anyone to put themselves at risk.

“We do of course respond to all reports that we receive, but any help people can give us during busy times such as this is very grateful as means we can focus our resources on the most urgent issues."

Please report any ongoing highways issues via lancashire.gov.uk, the Love Clean Streets app on your phone, or by calling our customer service centre on 0300 123 6780. Please give an accurate location, and include a photo if you can.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for rain affecting Lancashire from 1pm today (Friday) until 3am on Saturday morning.

You can find more information about preparing for winter weather at lancashire.gov.uk/winter. Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.