Manchester's Worst Storm Eva
The full extent of the devastation caused by Storm Eva across Greater Manchester on Boxing Day 2015 has been revealed.
The flooding affected 2500 homes and around 500 businesses across the region and the total recovery and clean up will take months.
Tony Lloyd, interim Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Many people in Greater Manchester started 2016 with fear and trepidation because of the damage caused by unprecedented flooding. “Along with the individual assistance to support our communities in moving on, I’m very keen to address the issue of flood defences and want to ensure it moves up the local and national agendas in the wake of what happened in GM.” Councillor Mike Connolly, GMCA lead for Resilience and Civil Contingencies, said: “The response from all the agencies involved, and from the GM community, was little short of magnificent and, as a result of their efforts, there wasn’t one single fatality or serious injury directly related to the floods. “More than 2,400 properties and 521 businesses in eight of our 10 boroughs were affected so it’s important we now do what we can to help people repair their homes, lives and businesses, learn what lessons we can about the response and take steps to try and prevent this happening again.” The report to the Combined Authority identifies a number of ways in which funding has been and will be made available to those affected by flooding. Working groups, involving local councils and organisations such as United Utilities and the Environment Agency, have been established to identify, repair and replace all damaged infrastructures.