Rishton residents left knee deep in sewage water after floods

The planned investment by United Utilities comes after flash flooding over the weekend due to heavy rainfall.

On Saturday, residents in Rishton fought black sewage water which rushed through properties from a drain in an alley way which overflowed.

United Utilities said it had 30 reports of flooding into properties in the North West that day and more than half, 16, were in Rishton.

Hyndburn Mayor Paul Barton was alerted to the flood by residents in Spring Street on Saturday afternoon and visited the street after his engagements and was left knee-deep in the sewage, wearing his mayoral suit.

He said: “There have been problems here for years. It was sewage. It’s disgusting.

“The children couldn’t play out because it was flooded. This needs sorting as it keeps happening.”

Resident Chrissy Hogg, 22, of Spring Street, said: “I was out, but my babysitter rang me and when I got home she was standing by the back door with a washing-up bowl trying to get the sewage out of the house.

“She told me she had opened the back door and the water just came pouring into the house.

“It was at least 18 inches deep. You can still see the line in the garden. It’s starting to dry out and it stinks.”

Resident Kim Challenger, 21, of Spring Street, who has only lived in the property for a month, said: “I came home after I had my tea and found the kitchen was full of water.

“I just hope it doesn’t happen again.”

Shaun Robinson, of United Utilities, said: “Thunder storms passed over many parts of the region causing localised waste-water flooding.

“All residents in Rishton were visited by our emergency crews and assistance offered.

“These unusual weather events are a challenge for us brought about by climate change.

"As part of our plans for 2010-2015 we aim to halve the number of incidents of flooding of homes from overloaded sewers in the North West as part of our proposed £3.7 billion inves-tment.”