Section 19 Report

In September 2021 there were two significant storms which resulted in surface water/sewer flooding to highways and properties in Salford. The areas that were most significantly affected were Eccles, Worsley, Boothstown, Cadishead and Irlam. It should be noted however that there were incidents of highway flooding that impacted most wards, often as a result of rainfall intensities exceeding the capacity of highway drainage collection systems (ie, highway gullies) and in most cases were resolved without intervention from any party once the most intense part of the storm had cleared.
 
However, in some instances, flooding did occur to properties. The report will focus on those instances of internal flooding or external flooding to residential properties where the cause of flooding was a defect. This report differs to most section 19 reports which will focus on one area of flooding due to one flooding mechanism. This report details flooding in multiple locations with multiple flood mechanisms.
 
To fully explain the flooding events, it is necessary to provide some information regarding their intensity and duration. The storms on 9 and 30 September consisted of between two to three hours of intense rainfall. The most intense parts of both storms consisted of a rainfall peak in excess of 32mm/hour (the highest intensity band recorded by the Met Office) but could have been higher than this figure.
 
Due to the localised nature of the storms, they did not meet the requirements of the Met Office to be given a name. Similarly, no weather warnings were issued as wide-ranging impacts, impacting large regions of the country were not expected. With that regard, warnings of the impact were limited.
 
This report is put forward as a factual record of the flooding that occurred.