River Irwell - River Irwell Flood Defence Scheme

River Irwell Flood Defence Scheme

The lower reaches of the Irwell have flooded many times in its history, the most well documented being the floods of 1866, 1946, 1954, 1980, and 2007. In December 1816 rapidly thawing snow caused the river to flood, sweeping away a considerable amount of property including building materials and livestock. Locals reported the height of the river to have been almost as great as a more serious flood of 1768. A local public house, the Black Boy, suffered extensive damage as the water caused the rear wall to collapse, a local brewery was flooded with the loss of all its stock, and a Mersey Flat came free of its moorings, hitting Regent Bridge. In 1866, the "year of the great Flood", rain fell for three continuous days commencing on Tuesday 13 November. By the end of the first day, the river had risen 14 feet (4.3 m) above normal at Peel Park, street lamps could not be lit and mills were brought to a stop. In all, £1 million of property was damaged, 1,100 acres (450 ha) of land was flooded, 700 people had to be rescued from wrecked homes, but only one man died by drowning. The height of the flood was marked by an obelisk erected in Peel Park. The construction of the ship canal is said to have reduced the risk of flooding, by providing a larger outlet below Regent bridge. In 1946 in Salford 5,300 properties were flooded, and 600 were flooded in 1954.

To alleviate such problems two flood storage basins with a capacity of 650,000 cubic metres (850,000 cu yd) have been constructed to the west of Littleton Road, Kersal, at a cost of around £11 million. As part of the River Irwell Flood Defence Scheme, the defences help to protect some 3,000 properties in Kersal and Lower Broughton against a 1 in 75 year flood. Concerns have been raised that a 1 in a 100 year flood would breach these defences and cause some £55 million damage to property. The defences proved successful on 22 January 2008, when the worst flooding to hit the region in thirty years caused the Irwell to burst its banks further downstream in the centre of Manchester.