DESPITE a high tide, strong winds and some flooding Warrington escaped a major weather incident today but remains on a yellow alert with a risk of ice and wintery showers.
A number of schools across the borough were hit by extreme weather and Warrington Borough Council was forced to closed its three community recycling centres.
At the Sandy Lane tip in Stockton Heath, a sign blew off and hit a member of the public while at Gatewarth, a sign was blown off and hit a car.
Council officers are carrying out accident investigations.
A high tide on the Mersey saw water levels reach high levels at Warrington Bridge where Environment Agency staff monitored the situation.
Police directed traffic away from the Riverside Retail Park after part of the car park was flooded.
The borough council opened its emergency planning centre at Tanning Court to co-ordinate work within the council in response to the weather. A joint tactical co-ordinating centre was also established at Cheshire Police headquarters at Winsford.
In the town centre, a bus shelter near the White Hart in Sankey Street was blown over and a sign was blown off a shop frontage opposite Golden Square.
At Evelyn Street School, two classrooms were vacated as a precaution and windows were boarded up and reinforced.
St Stephen’s Primary School at Orford and Cardinal Newman High School both closed early.
At Oakwood Primary School, slates were blown off the roof into Oakwood Avenue.
Council building maintenance teams were out dealing with damaged property.
The final risk point was at Howley and Kingsway in Warrington, where there 356 properties were at risk as the tide began to ebb, where the Environment Agency and Warrington Borough Council closely monitored the situation. Contacts on the ground said the water level was at the highest they had ever seen.
A council spokesperson said:“Today’s weather issues have been due to low pressure. There was significant potential for flooding so we felt it was appropriate to escalate to multi-agency command arrangements.
“The critical time passed after the tide had turned, so the Joint Tactical Coordinating Centre stood down after its meeting at 4 p.m.
“Tides tonight and tomorrow are not expected to cause any issues.
“The Met Office has issued a new ‘yellow’ warning for ice from 3 p.m. today until tomorrow. The wind should continue to ease, and then wintry showers are expected.
“The council would like to thank its partners, and all those council officers who worked very hard to ensure that our emergency planning worked smoothly. It’s very sad that a small number of properties flooded where nothing could have been done to prevent this, and we sympathise with the people in question. Overall, however, we’re pleased that Warrington’s flood planning worked.”
Picture: High tide at Warrington Bridge.
