A Horwich street was left flooded with “about four inches” of water because of a drain blocked with “twigs and leaves”.

Barford Grove flooded with quick-moving water from 10am to 6pm on Tuesday (October 15) when the borough was hit by heavy rain.

Two garages flooded “up to the residents’ ankles”.

The pressure lifted the drain’s manhole cover “lift off” and break in half.

Cllr Ryan Bamforth, who represents Horwich North, said: “All the drainage had blocked with leaves and branches, there was no water passing through.

“Two of the houses on Barford Grove were getting flooded.

“There was at least four inches of water moving quickly.

(Image: Cllr Ryan Bamforth)

“The drain hadn’t been cleaned in a long time.

“There was so much pressure from the water that the manhole cover lifted up, cracked and half of it fell into the hole.

“Water started to overflow onto the street.

“One of the residents said their garage had flooded for two hours.

(Image: Cllr Ryan Bamforth)

“They’d sent a photo where standing in the garage where the water was above their ankles.

“Bolton Council had told them they didn’t own the pipe and were limited in what they could do.

“United Utilities said they didn’t own it either.

(Image: Cllr Ryan Bamforth)

“The resident asked us for help.

“Upon looking into it, we found out that a private company had owned the pipe before. But it had been liquidated.

“We contacted Streetcare and Bolton Council.

“The teams created a wall of sandbags to prevent water from further flooding the houses.

"Water was channelled down a path, and the team managed to clear the blockage.

“And they used a crane to clear the manhole cover half that had fallen to the bottom of the drain and secured the site.

(Image: Cllr Ryan Bamforth)

“It took about five hours to unblock the drain. They were there until 8pm.”

“Bolton Council assisted even though it didn’t own the pipe.

“Two of its employees pulled out all the stops to help and prevented what could have been a huge bill for the two people whose houses were flooded.

"Bolton Council now have taken ownership of the drain. And will be replacing the manhole cover.

“But this could happen again.

“We need to do a wider search across the borough to see if there are any more drains not owned by Bolton Council or anyone else.

“Other drains can be slipping through the net.

“And flooding like this could cost residents thousands of pounds.”