Star date: 28th December 2015

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, SALFORD GETS GOING...

"I'm so proud to be from Salford..." Louise, Helping Hands

This morning the community came out in force to help victims of the flood in Lower Broughton, clearing houses and delivering blankets and other essential items. People came from all over Greater Manchester to join the clean up, together with groups including the Salford Angels Women's Institute, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association and Helping Hands.

Now, a call has gone out for big companies in the city to donate desperately needed cleaning equipment, carpets, laminate flooring, sofas, cookers and fridges... "It's heartbreaking" says Susanne from Salford Angels, "the whole of people's Christmas is on their front lawn..."

Full details here...

Boxing Day saw the floods, yesterday saw the shock from the fall-out, and today a huge volunteering effort sees the clean up in Lower Broughton get into full swing.

The day begins at 10am at St Bonifaces Social Club on Broughton Lane, which has become the centre of community self help activity. Over one hundred residents and volunteers meet to co-ordinate activity, while at the back of the hall there is an absolute mound of donated items, from toys to clothes and bags of food. 

"We've had so much donated it's unbelievable" says Vera Winter, whose daughter's house got gutted in the flood "They're coming from everywhere. We've had young girls coming in giving us prams and toys...A man from Cheadle came down last night with some stuff; he was crying...Someone else came in with loads of bread...People are just turning up asking what they can do. We've got  lots of volunteers today and they are going out to see what they can do to get any normality back so that people can stay in their homes."

Near Riverside, which took the full force of the River Irwell, 18 lads from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association are going from house to house offering assistance and carrying damaged items out onto the street...

"We're here to help the local people on a humanitarian basis" says youth leader Jameel Moshtaq "We've been working in Cumbria, Keswick and Appleby for the last three weeks and when the floods hit near Manchester, where we are based, we came to help..."

The Salford Angels Women's Institute are out around John Street, where houses were engulfed despite being over a hundred yards from the River Irwell...

"We're helping where they need it, particularly people on their own or those who can't move their furniture, and we've brought some big lads down to help rip up carpets and carry furniture out" says the Angels' Sam Smith "I'm off work until next Tuesday so I'll be here for as long as it takes."

Fellow Angel, Susanne, explains that, while the volunteers have been superb, the big companies in Salford now need to get on board...

"What we desperately need in this area at the moment is companies like Cousins, Carpet World and DFS to give us some carpets, laminate flooring and sofas because most people have lost these" she says "It's heartbreaking, the whole of people's Christmas is on their front lawn..."

Parked up near the volunteers is the Pit Stop Catering wagon, which is providing free hot food... "We've had donations from people bringing sausages, barms and bread and we're just trying to help" says Sarah "There's people volunteering cleaning up so we're helping them while they're doing it."

Down the road, on Quendon Avenue, there's a whole family of women bearing rubber gloves and power washers scrubbing out Joan Jackson's house...

"I got a phone call about 3pm on Boxing Day just telling me to lift things up" she recalls "My daughter came down but within half an hour the water was gushing down the street. We didn't get much warning. All my flooring has had to come out; my hallway's gone, and the fridge, freezer and washer. My daughters and granddaughters are helping, cleaning up for me and clearing out things I can't use. We've been told we're going to get £500 but that won't even pay for all the stuff we've had to buy to clean the place..."

In the meantime, the community has gone into do-it-yourself mode, with neighbours helping each other to get over the worst flood in Salford since 1946...

"Everyone is chipping in together and helping out; it's got everyone quite close and it's really good" says Joan's daughter, Andrea "My niece has some cookers coming that people are donating, so we're going to see who needs what in the street..."

Louise, from Helping Hands, is helping to clear houses around John Street. Despite it being a bank holiday, everyone's come into work, with teams on the streets and others in the office getting food parcels and co-ordinating the activity...

"Everyone's been absolutely fantastic" says Louise, who lives on Heath Avenue and saw her sister's house on Cygnus Avenue get flooded "Salford comes together and the power of Facebook is amazing! I just think it's so lovely how everyone's helped everyone out, even when they're in a crisis themselves. I'm so proud to be from Salford..."

For more details on how to help the Salford flood victims see...

• The Community Foundation for Greater Manchester has launched the Greater Manchester Flood Recovery Appeal – to donate click here

• There is also the St Bonifaces/Broughtons Flood Clean Up Facebook page which is putting out appeals for practical help and donated items to help with the clear up. It's also the official help page for anybody affected by the flood – click here

* Another Facebook help site for Lower Broughton is the Community Flood Support Group - click here

Main photo shows Joan Jackson and family

See also related Salford Star articles on the floods...

* Salford Flood Clear Up Begins Amidst Recriminations - click here

* Floods Devastate Lower Broughton - click here

* Salford Floods as River Irwell Rises - click here

* Salford Flood Support By The Community, For The Community – click here

* Salford Council £500 emergency payment to flood victims - click here