Four dogs sadly died after severe floods hit Trafford on New Year’s Day.
The animals were staying at Manchester Boarding Kennels on Willow Farm in Urmston when the deluge hit the region. Most of the dogs staying at the kennels were safely rescued, but sadly four small pups perished after a ‘major incident’ was declared.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, the owners Naomi Ewen and Mike Sutherland said they were ‘devastated’ by the losses, but added they were given ‘absolutely no warning’ of the disastrous floods by the Environment Agency (EA).
The pair said a staff member checked on the dogs at around 6am on Wednesday morning (January 1) and that the kennels were ‘fine’. At 7am, the same staff member warned them the river’s banks were ‘getting high’ – but by 7:30, the situation had turned dire.
“The banks burst and that’s when it went into freefall,” Mike told the M.E.N. “We got in the car to come down to the kennels, but we couldn’t get across the bridge because the water was so deep.”
A nearby farmer offered to help with his tractor, and eventually the couple made it across to rescue the dogs. “We struggled to open the doors,” Mike continued. “I waded in and tried to get to the small dogs first. But they’re the ones that unfortunately didn’t make it.”
Flooding inside the building
He said of the dogs that sadly died belonged to a private customer who he is close friends with. The other three were rescue dogs housed there by a charity.
“It was devastating for me because the three dogs that are rescues I have looked after for a year,” Mike told the M.E.N.
The pair said they had ‘fantastic’ help from the local community, who assisted them in getting to the dogs and rescuing the vast majority of the 25 pups they had in their care.
“Some people have taken dogs into their homes, we’ve managed to get most of them in other kennels and they are all safe and well and customers have been spoken to,” Mike said.
But they have been left asking questions about how the rainfall was handled and whether they could have been given more notice of the flooding.
“There’s normally a weather alert, but we didn’t have one until four hours after the flood,” Naomi said. “Between about 7am and quarter to eight the bridge was covered and we couldn’t get in.
Naomi and Mike said the water rose in just 45 minutes
“We have plans in place in case anything happens – but we rely on weather warnings. This time it happened in 45 minutes without any warning.”
Mike told the M.E.N he was in the Navy and had ‘never seen anything like’ the floods in Urmston. “We checked in at six o’clock, we checked in at 7 o’clock, and then that was it,” he added. “The floodgates opened. And it wasn’t just an inch.
“I have no idea what happened. But we will be asking questions.”
The devastating floods saw a ‘major incident’ declared in Greater Manchester with more than 1,300 evacuated from homes and hotels across the region.
A GoFundMe has been set up to supoort the kennels. You can donate here.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Environment Agency teams have been working around the clock over the New Year, operating flood defences, taking action to reduce the impact of flooding, issuing flood warnings and supporting those communities affected, including in Greater Manchester.
“More broadly, we are delivering a long-term funding programme of flood defences, investing over £1.25 billion this year to scale up national resilience through building new and improving existing flood defences.
“We know providing the nation with the best available information on flood risk is vital to ensuring that policy makers, practitioners and communities are ready to adapt to flooding.”
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Environment Agency teams have been working around the clock over the New Year, operating flood defences, taking action to reduce the impact of flooding, issuing flood warnings and supporting those communities affected, including in Greater Manchester.
“More broadly, we are delivering a long-term funding programme of flood defences, investing over £1.25 billion this year to scale up national resilience through building new and improving existing flood defences.
“We know providing the nation with the best available information on flood risk is vital to ensuring that policy makers, practitioners and communities are ready to adapt to flooding.”