Storm Christoph: Boris Johnson visits Didsbury after homes evacuated during flooding

The Prime Minister has said that £20 million will be invested in flood defences for Greater Manchester over the next six years.

Boris Johnson visited Didsbury this morning after homes were evacuated following severe flood warnings last night, meaning there was a threat to life.

Mr Johnson defended the government's record on flood defence spending.

"A huge amount has been done here in Greater Manchester, another £60 million has been put in to protecting the Greater Manchester area," he said.

"You can see the defences that we have in place to protect people's homes and people's lives.

"But, be in no doubt, everybody who visits a flood area, anybody who has been through a flood knows the huge psychological, emotional and financial cost of flooding to people."

The PM also suggested that a major tree-planting programme could help protect against flooding in the long term.

Boris Johnson has suggested that a major tree-planting programme could help protect against flooding in the long term.

He said: "One idea that everybody in the Environment Agency talks about, and I believe in absolutely passionately, is planting trees on the higher ground to help absorb some of that rainfall, to help mitigate the effects of flooding.

"This Government has a very ambitious tree-planting programme, but, in my view, we're not going fast enough.

"As the spring comes and we come out of the pandemic, we're going to want to see a lot done to build in long-term resilience against flooding and against climate change, and planting trees is a big part of that."

All the updates on the flooding in the North West can be found here and you can watch the latest weather forecast for the region here.