Residents count cost of torrents

THE scene in Shaw near JD Williams

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OLDHAMERS are still counting the cost of Monday's torrential downpours.

Streets became rivers as schools, businesses and homes succumbed to the torrents of water that surged forward and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service were pushed to the limit as they dealt with 230 emergency calls in five hours as the storm left its mark on the borough.

St Mary's CE Primary School, Greenfield remained closed yesterday as they dealt with the damage caused and Twitter users called upon volunteers to help with the fallout.

Rushcroft Primary School, Shaw called upon staff and parents to help stem the tide and as a result of a team effort managed to prevent the water from breaching the school building.

Jacquie Ireland, Rushcroft primary business manager, said: "We have got a strong army of staff and parents. We have got a good network.

"We're up against the elements and we do our very best, it is only because of the force that we had that the school didn't get breached."

Lisa Watson, of Chew Valley Road, Greenfield, who lives at the back of the Lifestyle Fitness Centre, which was also flooded, spent yesterday recovering what she could after water decimated the ground floor of her home.

She said: "We are just getting rid of the carnage now. We've had to throw the carpets away, we had a new bed and that has been ruined, our shoes and clothes are destroyed. The furniture is ruined. We haven't even started in the kitchen yet.

"We opened the door to try and let it out but it was just gushing back in. I went to get help and the fire service started trying to pump it out and we tried to anything we could.

"The fire service were great, they were fantastic."

Her partner, John Flynn was frustrated as he felt the flooding was exacerbated by housing developments that have taken away green land which would help with drainage.

The Clarence Pub, Greenfield, also suffered at the hands of the storm as their cellar became flooded under several feet of water. Initially unaware of the extent of the flooding, staff sprung into action as they tried to stem the flow with sandbags.

The water was so abundant that it lifted fridges, freezers and beer barrels off of their stations and left them floating.

A pump in the cellar eventually removed the water once the storm had eased and staff spent yesterday cleaning and assessing the damage.

Melvin Robinson, whose son owns the pub and was helping out at the time, said: "We did try to stem the flow of the water and we bought sandbags to try to stop it and they did slow it down a bit.

"We didn't see it initially because we were inside serving the customers. We had to close the pub at around 8pm because all of the electric were out, fortunately nobody was stuck in here because they could get out of the front door.

He said: "We have a pump in the cellar which has managed to get the majority of the water out so it is just a case of cleaning it up and seeing how much damage has been done."

As the storm raged, cabinet members approved a proposal that will see the next step of a consultation period for the expansion of Greenfield Primary School, roughly around the same time that the allocated site for the new school if approved was being submerged.

The flooding of the site and the surrounding roads added to concerns of residents who oppose the expansion.

Mike Rooke, who opposes the expansion, said: "At around the time that the cabinet meeting was discussing whether to take the consultation to the next stage, the rain was flooding on to the fields and causing chaos.

"The pictures this morning show the effect of this flooding on the road. The strange thing is as they were making their decision this was happening."

Joan Harthan, of Arthurs Lane, Greenfield, who also opposes the expansion, believes the addition of a new concrete building will make flooding worse in the area with less greenery to soak up the water.

She said: "In heavy rain it becomes a raging river that mainly travels down the unadopted section of South Avenue, straight to the field where the new school is planned. The problem is blocked or inadequate culverts on the bridle path and excessive open drainage."

Speaking yesterday Craig Dale, Head of Highways at Oldham Council, said: "Working with colleagues in our First Response control room we managed to triage the large volume of calls, work on a priority basis and in most cases dealt with and cleared flooded roads."