Flood-hit homes and businesses still need help

Wyre residents are among hundreds in the county still unable to live in their homes following last December's flooding. according to a new report.
Flooding in St Michaels as seen from above. Photo: Lancashire Fire and Rescue.Flooding in St Michaels as seen from above. Photo: Lancashire Fire and Rescue.
Flooding in St Michaels as seen from above. Photo: Lancashire Fire and Rescue.

The continuing effects of the catastrophic floods, which affected 2,500 homes and 229 communities, have been revealed by Lancashire County Council.

The Council has just published an analysis of the flooding and the response.

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Its report acknowledges numerous businesses could also still be displaced. But it admits that as the lead local flooding authority it has “no reliable record” of just how many businesses and families are still unable to use their premises.

A report going to councillors on Tuesday details the way floods damaged not just homes, but business premises, farms, roads, bridges, walls, water treatment plans, schools and village and town halls.

It details the weather conditions leading to flooding in December 2015 – rain and more rain – and focuses on the legal responsibilities and duties of all the county’s flood risk managers, including the council, Environment Agency, district councils and water company, during the storms.

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The report concluded all had fulfilled duties before, during, and after the floods, with work continuing.

Cabinet member Coun Marcus Johnstone said “Those agencies with responsibility for managing the risk of flooding have been working very hard together, as the Lancashire Flood Risk Partnership, to understand how each individual flooding incident happened and to take action to manage or reduce the risk of it happening again.”