Heartbreak as North West business owners return to work after floods to find livelihoods destroyed
Business owners say they have been left "heartbroken" after almost floods of up to six foot wrecked their premises - causing damage estimated to be more than a million pounds.
Around 20 units on the Meadow Industrial Estate in Stockport were also deluged by water following heavy persistent rain from New Years Eve into New Years Day.
It is the second time in three years those working on the estate have been flooded and tradespeople now say they may give up entirely.The business park is next to the River Tame behind the Meadow Mill apartment building, where more than 400 people had to be evacuated from their homes after its car park and lower floors were flooded, cutting off water and power supplies and leaving residents stranded.
After the water subsided those working out of the units returned to find stock and equipment worth tens of thousands of pounds has been destroyed.
The area previously flooded in February 2022 causing significant damage, and as a result business owners say they were not able to get insurance.
Chris Fawley, 57, who runs Meadow Mill Wood Finishing, said: "I'm done. Last time it cost me £20,000-£30,000 to get myself back on my feet. But that time the water only came up a a foot or so.
"This time was much worse and you could probably double that figure and more."And what's the point when it could just happen again. I would just be flogging a dead horse. It's the customers I feel sorry for. I had about about half a dozen things I was working on.
"If it would have been a few weeks ago there would have £300,000 worth of furniture in here."
Chris was on holiday in Spain but cut it short and jetted back late on New Year's Day. "Even though I knew what I'd be coming back to I couldn't stay there, I had to come and see it myself so I could evaluate and think about the next step. Everything's unsalvageable."A mate of mine has lost £200,000 worth of machinery. He thinks it could bankrupt him and he might have to sell his house."John Hayes, 52, from Heaton Chapel, has been based at Meadow Mill for 15 years and has two neighbouring units, one a furniture workshop and one a storage unit containing classic cars and stock.
"We managed to move some of the cars before it started to get really bad," he said. "But some we couldn't. I moved my stock higher up and thought that it would be okay but the whole place is wrecked. It looks like a bomb has hit it."We came away and when we came back the police were here and weren't letting anyone down. It was about 4pm (on Wednesday) we managed to get down. I don't think you could print my reaction. It's devastating for everyone. Especially given its happened twice."This is my livelihood and it's in tatters. I have got no insurance as they won't cover it. A few people have given their keys back today because they just can't bring themselves to go through it all again."
Steve Brocklesby, 59, who runs a firm making polished concrete tables, flooring and other furnishings said: "It's the best day for it to happen I suppose.
"Start the year s**t and then it can only get better from here. I'd actually sold most of my stock before Christmas and was due to move to a new, bigger unit around the corner."So if it'd have happened a few months ago, or a bit later, I'd have been absolutely f****d. I did get a call from the landlord but I couldn't have got here to do anything anyway.
"When I saw how many emergency services here were I was expecting it to be really bad. You can see on the walls how high it got. It's mad. I'm just gutted. I feel sorry for the people who are not starting up again. It's a disaster."
The site is owned by the Hewer-White Trust who use the income from the rents and their other properties to fund its charity, which amongst other things offers independent living for vulnerable over 55s.CEO Gemma Papp, 41, said: "We had a flood warning at 11pm on New Year's Eve, so we came down straight away, just to see that what the height the river was and then we monitored the height of the sensor that we have, that can tell us how quickly the water is rising."I stayed up till two o'clock in the morning and it was just consistently rising. Obviously, we did a call cascade to all the tenants to say you need to come down, but even if they'd move things I'm not sure that would have helped as the water got so high."I woke up and got here for about 7am in the morning and there was police everywhere, we couldn't get down and I knew then it wad a disaster.
"I managed to get down to the corner and it was absolutely shocking. We could not have imagined in a million years that this would happen like this."We are a charity and this is our income, And we've had a number of tenants say that their business has gone, they can't afford to rebuild and you don't get flood insurance here because we're near the river."So nobody's insured, except maybe one or two, so a lot of the businesses that have been with us for decades, say that their business is probably gone."
"It's devastating, it's heartbreaking and everyone's still in shock at the moment," she continued. "It's horrible. Just the look on people's faces, you can just see the pain and upset.
"For now it's just a case of clean up, make safe and then get the skips in clear out and then it's all about what happens after that. "Gemma said she wanted answers as to what went wrong.
"As a business you put trust in agencies and I just feel angry and devastated for the community that we have here, and the businesses and the livelihoods that have been affected," she said.
"Everyone deserves answers as to how the hell this happened."Residents in the neighbouring flats say virtually all the cars parked in the car park have been written off and they have still not been allowed to stay in their homes as work to reconnect power and water supplies continues.