Homes flooded as wind and rain batter much of UK

More than 100 flood warnings have been issued across the UK and a major incident declared in Greater Manchester as wind and rain hits parts of the country on the first day of 2025.

Greater Manchester Police said people became trapped in their homes without running water, while others were rescued from cars stranded in floodwaters.

Some weather warnings for wind and ice remain in place for parts of the UK – and forecaster say temperatures will plummet overnight, with snow due to roll in over the weekend.

Wednesday’s flooding and disruption came after New Year’s Eve events across the country were cancelled due to bad weather – although celebrations in Manchester and London went ahead.

Severe rainfall through the night resulted in flooding in a number of areas across Greater Manchester, the police force said.

Places affected include Bolton, Didsbury, South Manchester, Harpurhey, North Manchester, Stalybridge, Stockport and Wigan.

Two separate rescues were carried out by authorities overnight in Warrington and nearby Lymm after people became trapped in their vehicles in floodwater.

Flood waters in Stockport trapped around 400 people in their flats without electricity or running water for much of the day but evacuations are now under way.

In Didsbury, waters from the river Mersey are subsiding, which means the evacuation of 400 private homes is no longer needed, police said.

However, there are plans in place to start evacuating 500 people from a hotel in the area, the statement added.

Greater Manchester Police Ch Supt Colette Rose said nobody had been seriously injured during the floods and praised the public for cooperating with authorities and looking out for each other.

Around 90mm of rain has fallen widely across north west England over the last 24 hours with over 100mm recorded on some hills in north Wales and Cumbria.

There are lane closures on several motorways and roads of north west England.

In Cheshire, the banks of the Bridgewater Canal collapsed with water pouring into surrounding fields at Little Bollington.

Police said they were working to evacuate nearby properties, while the M56 westbound between junctions 6 and 7 were closed.

The Environment Agency (EA) had issued 109 flood warnings in England, mostly concentrated in the North West.

There were also 11 flood warnings in place for north Wales and 17 warnings in place for Scotland.

The Met Office weather warnings in place across the UK:

• A yellow warning for snow and ice for northern Scotland until 10:00 tomorrow
• A yellow warning for ice for the rest of Scotland, Northern Ireland and much of England and Wales throughout this evening and into Thursday morning

Previous rain warnings covering parts of the UK, including for rain in north west England, have now been lifted.

London’s New Year’s Day parade suffered a short delay due to the high winds in the capital.

The parade was delayed by 30 minutes to avoid coinciding with a squall line – a narrow band of extremely high wind and rain – that was expected in London around midday.

Organisers said inflatable cartoon characters due to feature in the parade would not be used after advice from the Met Office.

A weather front over Scotland is bringing rain with some sleet and snow over hills. It will bring much colder arctic air as it move southwards, with sunny spells and snow showers following.

A few centimetres of snow is expected at low elevations overnight, but the hills of north Scotland are likely to see 5-10cm of snow in places bringing some local disruption.

It will feel increasingly bitter as arctic air reaches all areas by Thursday.

Over the weekend, there is a yellow snow warning in place for the vast majority of the UK, stretching from southern Scotland, across north England, the Midlands, Wales, over London and across much of the south east and west.

An area of low pressure will move into this cold air on Sunday bringing rain and some disruptive snow on its northern edge.

The poor weather conditions are causing rail disruptions in parts of the country and several rail operators have urged passengers to check online before travelling.

• Heavy flooding led to widespread cancellations across Northern Rail services on Wednesday, including to and from Manchester airport.

• The TransPennine Express service urged customers not to travel at all on Wednesday due to heavy flooding on several routes.

• Transport for Wales said the weather had caused a number of its lines to be blocked.

• Northern Ireland’s Translink similarly advised travellers to check routes before travelling.

Despite the poor weather, thousands of people gathered along Embankment in the capital to see in the New Year with a fireworks display over the Thames at midnight on Wednesday.

Celebrations in Manchester also went ahead as planned, after its fireworks display was moved to the top of the city’s central library.

Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh were cancelled over public safety concerns, as were fireworks displays in Blackpool, Newcastle, the Isle of Wight and Ripon in North Yorkshire.

Scotland’s Culture Secretary Angus Robertson said cancelling the festival was “undoubtedly” the correct decision.

The fireworks display in Blackpool was cancelled because of the expected high winds. The town’s other events, including a projection show to mark the start of 2025, went ahead.