Residents claim they are living in fear of further rain after flash flooding affected several parts of the town.

Homes, gardens and streets in Macclesfield were submerged in up to three feet of flood water on Thursday evening following torrential rainfall.

Council chiefs claim the flooding was an exceptional situation and praised its staff for response. But residents have blamed the situation on the council saying it had failed to clean the drains.

Nathan Rourke, whose son Ted, three, is recovering from major heart surgery, believes blocked drains caused flooding in his garage on Pool End Close, Tytherington.

He said: “In two hours it was overflowing. The drains were unable to cope. It was terrifying. I had to rush out and buy sandbags and was furiously bailing at the water to stop it getting into the house. It was an absolute nightmare.”

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Mr Rourke also lives with wife Sian and son Milo, six.

He added: “I am living in fear that it will happen again when it next rains.

“It is a real health hazard and when you have a little boy who is still recovering from major heart surgery it is a serious stuff.

“I spent hundreds of pounds on my council tax and don’t expect much but I do expect my drains to be cleaned.”

Flooding at Pool End Close, Tytherington

Dave Thompson, from Macclesfield, captured impressive footage of cars and buses wading precariously through deep floodwater on Dorchester Way and Manchester Road in Tytherington.

Cheshire Fire and Rescue said they were called out to a number of incidents across Macclesfield, Bollington and Prestbury after the heavy downpour and spent the evening pumping out water from cellars.

The Cotton Tree, The Conservative Club and a number of houses on Bollington Old Road in Bollington were flooded.

A property on Grandlands in Macclesfield flooded with six inches of water and crews had to attend a property on Suffolk Close which had been flooded with at least and inch of water.

Roger Boden, of Gawsworth Road, Broken Cross, prevented flooding to his property by lifting a manhole cover. He also acted to save other properties by unblocking two gullies himself using drainage rods.

He said: “This was the sort of rain you would expect in Florida. It was very unusual. But for the last five years I have complained about the blocked gullies and nothing has happened. It’s disgusting and makes me wonder why I pay council tax. It’s pathetic. I had to act myself. It was dirty, smelly work, but if the council won’t do it, then I will.

“The bottom line is that a service we pay for isn’t been carried out. None of this flooding would have happened if the gullies had been unblocked.

Coun Gareth Jones, from Macclesfield Town Council, said he had raised issues of drains being blocked in his ward in Tytherington.

He said: “There was an excessive amount of water, which makes the situation unusual but I suspect the level of silt in the drains would have caused the flooding. I will be raising this with Cheshire East and welcome any resident to contact me with their experiences.”

Flooding in Macclesfield: Tytherington

Labour councillors for Cheshire East Council claim it warned the Tory-led authority against reducing the gully emptying services earlier this year. Nick Mannion, Labour Councillor for Macclesfield West & Ivy, said, “Cheshire East Council staff have been rightly praised for the way they responded to recent floods. The gully emptying service does its best with attending routine calls to minor floods with the limited amount of plant and manpower available.

“We shouldn’t have to wait for heavy downpours to show where blocked gullies are causing a hazard. We should have a proper maintenance regime to ensure that Cheshire East residents are not put in danger.”

Councillor David Brown, Cheshire East Council Cabinet member for highways, said: “There were several occurrences of exceptionally widespread and heavy rainfall across Cheshire East and adjacent catchment areas from 11-16 June. This resulted in a number of flooding incidents across the Borough, including areas of the road network. Due to the intensity of this rainfall the capacity of drainage systems were temporarily overwhelmed. We are working hard to ensure that the road network is back running smoothly and thank residents for their patience, particularly those in areas where severe flooding has been a concern”.

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