A new flood basin designed to protect 200 homes in Horwich town centre appears to be working well after heavy rainfall in the area over the weekend and in to Monday.
Localised flooding was widespread throughout the borough on Monday, September 30, with roads full of water and the Environment Agency issuing a flood alert.
Residents of Horwich are no stranger to flooding.
Six reported flooding incidents in the area over a period of 20 years led the Environment Agency to fund a £1.8 million project to create a flood basin in Horwich’s Old Station Park, in order to protect 200 properties from the risk of exceptional rainfall events.
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The project uses part of the park to temporarily store flood water during large storms, using existing embankments to form a storage basin. Additional new sections of embankment were also constructed.
At 5pm on Monday, water levels at Horwich’s Pearl Brook measurement site reached 0.70 metres – which the Environment Agency says is the top of the normal range for the site. It’s still well below the record 1.47 metres recorded on Boxing Day 2015, when widespread flooding led to chaos throughout the region.
Cllr Ryan Bamforth checked out how the defences were holding up.
Speaking to The Bolton News, he said: “The flood basin did work – there was concern because since the installation of this flood basin it’s never actually been used, and we’ve not had rain to that sort of severity since.
“People were raising concerns, and rightly so – because you should raise concerns.
“However, the flood basin did work. The idea is the flood basin itself would fill, that’s the depressed area which is lower down.
“Once that fills, the entranceway walking in, where you’ve got a metal strip along the floor – if the water fills, that metal strip actually raises up off the ground and forms a flood barrier.”
While the basin did not flood to the point that the barrier had to raise, the drainage systems appeared to work.
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Ryan added: “The drainage was working, yes there is debris from leaves, debris from branches within the brook itself, but it worked.
“It can’t be denied, it worked. It cost a lot of money, it took a very, very long time and people have lost elements of the park that they can no longer use, and I walked along the flood basin area and it was absolutely drenched – my boots were a mess after walking off.”
Cllr Bamforth said the area was losing more soft ground with increased building – leading to worse conditions for flooding as more areas are layered with asphalt.
He said: “If I’m honest with you, I’d love to have more pocket parks in and around the town. One, it gives somewhere for people to sit – and people do use them as well.
“They are good for soaking up, they are good for the environment, and they are good for people’s mental health.”
Cllr Bamforth says he’ll be calling for safety barriers alongside Pearl Brook.
He added: “With the speed of that water, if a small child or even a small dog got caught up in that, it would get washed away.
“On normal days it’s not such a major concern, but on instances like the other day, there is a risk that children or small animals could get washed away in that.”
If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.
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