Travel chaos as heavy rain batters North West

Heavy rainfall and widespread flooding has caused New Year’s Day travel disruption across large parts of the North West.

The Met Office had issued an amber warning for rain across swathes of Lancashire and Greater Manchester until 09:00 GMT, while a yellow warning also covers parts of Merseyside and Cheshire until 11:00.

Dozens of flood alerts are also in place, including in Stockport, where several properties have been affected.

Flooding on the line between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport train stations has also led to major disruption and cancellations.

In Warrington, three people were rescued from a car by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service on Cliff Lane.

The service used a rescue raft to get to the vehicle.

Trains will not operate between Manchester Airport and the city’s stations on Wednesday, or on routes between Manchester and Liverpool Lime Street, or from both Liverpool and Manchester to Huddersfield, Leeds and York.

TransPennine Express urged customers on its services not to travel before at least 12:00, saying flooding was causing “significant issues” in Greater Manchester and Cheshire.

Flooding also caused severe disruption across the road network, with the M57 closed in both directions between junction 6 at Kirkby and junction 7 at Aintree, according to National Highways.

It said the westbound M56 between junction 6 for Manchester Airport and junction 7 for Bowdon was also expected to be closed “for some time” due to flooding across all three lanes.

In Lancashire, firefighters were called to Gressingham Bridge to reports of a car stuck in the water at 21:30 on Tuesday, but the service said the vehicle was found to be empty.

The Met Office said heavy rainfall in some places could reach more than 10cm (4in) of rain.

Overnight, Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service said it had a high number of 999 calls due to flooding.