Star date: 16th March 2019

IRWELL WATER HIGH BUT NOT EXPECTED TO FLOOD IN SALFORD

A flood alert was issued by the Environment Agency for the River Irwell in Salford today but flooding in Lower Broughton, Lower Kersal and Charlestown is not expected to take place.

While the Irwell water was high and very fast flowing, the Agency hasn't issued a flood warning and, as yet, the two flood basins on Littleton Road have not been opened, the Salford Star understands.

Full details here...

As of 4pm this afternoon, the Environment Agency still has a flood alert in place for the River Irwell in Salford, which means that 'flooding is possible – be prepared'. This is opposed to a flood 'warning' which means that 'flooding is expected – immediate action required'.

This afternoon, river watchers from the community were out in Littleton Road and Lower Broughton monitoring the levels, and while the Irwell water was extremely high and fast flowing, the two flood basins, which operate on alarms, have not been opened.

Off Littleton Road, the weir was barely visible, while water was a few feet from reaching the red pedestrian bridge that crosses the Irwell. In Lower Broughton, again, levels were high but were a few metres from reaching levels experienced during the Boxing Day Flood of 2015.

However, some residents were not happy that the Environment Agency's last update was 12:19pm, while Salford City Council had no information at all on its website. The most up to date information appears to be coming from the community run Broughtons Flood Group on Facebook – click here for updates

Update: 6pm - New Flood Basin on Littleton Road now open

Update: 7:15pm – Little Threat of the Irwell Flooding in Salford

There is a sign on the original flood basin off Littleton Road stating that the 'Flood basin is in operation' (see photo) but there was little water in it when the Star visited it, while the new second flood basin had some water spilling into it from the Irwell (see photo) 

Levels haven't risen much since this afternoon and there seems little threat of the Irwell flooding in Lower Kersal and Lower Broughton. However, today yet again highlights the lack of communication between the authorities and the community.

At the new flood basin, the Salford Star met Keri Muldoon, whose house got flooded during Boxing Day 2015, and has since been campaigning for better flood defences and warnings, as well as running the Broughtons Flood Group on Facebook, which seemed to be the main channel for the community to get information today...

"The Environment Agency needs to spread the word out a little bit more than what they do because when they are sending out the alerts people are still not aware of what alerts, warnings and actions are still" she said "When people get alerts they think the river is going to go because the river was that high. But you can't get hold of anyone from the Environment Agency to go any further than that.

"I've got people from the Flood Group phoning me, asking 'Are we going to flood or are we not going to flood?'" she added "The information I have got from the Environment Agency is 'No', but then if we do flood they need to be able to put that on their own heads and not have me carry that weight, when at the end of the day I'm just a normal person who is trying to pass on information to help us all."

Main photo shows Littleton Road bridge