Council teams work around the clock to tackle the impact of extreme weather

As Cheshire West and Chester experienced unprecedented and extreme weather conditions over the past month, Council teams have worked tirelessly around the clock and across the Borough to keep people safe, businesses open, the transport network running smoothly and help affected communities to recover.

The Council’s Highways Service has responded to flooding that has affected our roads, residential and business properties, including pumping operations to prevent properties being flooded or to remove surface water from flooded areas, delivering sandbags and assisting with property evacuations whilst also dealing with snow and freezing conditions. 

Council locality teams have worked with councillors and colleagues across the borough to find accommodation for people evacuated from their homes, also checking in on vulnerable residents and assisting with the evacuation of some care homes in the borough, alongside our Adult Social Care teams.

The HELP team worked closely with voluntary and community organisations to ensure affected residents had hot food, emergency provisions and support with medication and transport.

Brio Leisure mobilised Northwich Memorial Court as a rest centre providing a Covid-safe respite space for all emergency and volunteer workers throughout the day and night in addition to providing refuge for displaced residents.   Volunteers and staff in the leisure centre looked after each individual resident’s needs.  Reunited residents with their families or arranged hotel accommodation working with the Councils transport team to get them there.

The Council’s StreetCare teams work with communities during their day-to-day operations and so have also been on hand to support residents and businesses during the recent extreme weather.  The teams used their fleet of sweepers, street washers and jet washers to clean up the aftermath of Storm Christoph.  They have manually removed heavy deposits of river silt and used mechanical lifting equipment to recover large or bulky items from water-damaged homes.  StreetCare also arranged a welfare unit to support teams working in flood-affected areas for extended periods of time.

The Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor Karen Shore said: “I’m incredibly proud of the work done by all our staff and also those within our supply chains who helped to keep people safe, cleaned up in our communities and ensured the transport network was running as smoothly as possible during incredibly challenging weather conditions.  The work is ongoing, particularly in the badly affected areas of Northwich, and working with partners Northwich BID and Northwich Town Council and others, we are making good progress. 

“I’d also like to thank our Emergency planning team for all their hard work doing this period.  We have also received valuable support from our partners in the Environment Agency, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service and Cheshire Police.

“I’ve read many thank yous from residents, extremely grateful to the staff who battled against driving rain and rising flood water to deliver sandbags and operate pumps to save their properties from flooding – this includes the farming community commissioned by our Highways Service.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t be everywhere and help everyone but I know the teams did all they possibly could.  I feel heartfelt sympathy for all our residents and businesses who have suffered as a result of the recent weather impacts and I offer our continued support during the recovery period.

“Officers across all our teams are on standby, ready to respond to anything the next few weeks may bring.”

If you have a Highways or StreetCare issue please report it on the Council’s website or use the Report It app – available in both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.  During bad weather the Council website is updated regularly and has the latest information about support available and services affected.