Bad Weather and Floods Hit Wrexham Area – Special Report

Wrexham suffered from an inch of overnight rain on the evening of the 23rd and recorded a further inch of rain throughout the morning. Overall 2.3 inches of rain fell in the area in under a day. We documented the day via our live updates system and can follow it from the bottom up in chronological order.

Thanks to all who tweeted, texted, facebooked, emailed, called, bumped into us on the street or saw us driving around, and helped us to compile this report.

We are still collating images, video and the like – not just today but all the time. If you see something going on in or around Wrexham send it over to us!

10.20pm Thankfully the heavy rain tonight held off. Tomorrow is due more rain, hopefully not as bad as today, but as always Wrexham.com will be here to report with you. We will be monitoring things overnight though, and although this format of reporting has stopped for this story, our normal reporting will of course continue!

10:15pm Pack Horse Bridge in Hope this evening via Chris Jones, echoing many scenes around Wrexham and rivers, with high dangerous dirty water that is due to persist overnight:

9pm Environment Agency Wales warning of possible flooding overnight around Bangor-On-Dee. The lag from earlier rain will mean rivers will rise – the environment agency flood map can be viewed here , with notes on what it means here.

8:54pm Chris Jones sent this picture, saying “The weir at the bridge Hope river is over the footpath”

8:25pm Glyn Chaplin got in touch on twitter to tell us “A couple of floods on the back lanes from Borras to Marford but not deep.”

8pm Report that the new roundabout by Cross Lanes has standing water on it. Also James Jones sent this picture of the waterfall in Bersham this evening, saying “waterfall by bersham flooding, police pulled over while we was there saying its still rising”:

7:40pm Richard Moulton sent us this video of the Alyn in Rossett as of 7pm:

7:21pm More good news – it seems that the rainfall tonight is pushing back timewise, and locationwise! North of the Wirral is taking the brunt at the moment, a band of rain that was previously due ontop of us. We are due more rain, but for the few hours ahead the radar can ‘see’ it is not as intense as earlier today.

7:13pm Good news – the animal rescue place mentioned before are no longer asking for help. 40 dogs have been taken to be cared for and all other small animals secured. Still requesting people to pump though!

6:45pm Emma Roberts tells us “lots of flooding from southsea to the lodge by the recycling plant it if rains anymore its going to get higher would avoid going that way”.

6:30pm Nikitas Mesney is on his way home to Chester and sent this video in of Lache Lane just between Doddleston and Chester:

6:14pm Kris Strafford sent us this pair of pictures of The Esless Farm river in Rhostyllen , before in the top left and after!

6:03pm North Clwyd Animal Rescue expand their earlier appeal saying “We are flooding at the rescue and we need YOUR help. All the kennels are flooding we have had to move the dogs. Can anyone help us by fostering a dog tonight PLEASE. Also if you know of anyone who can help with pumping equipment or clearing the drains please call us on 01745 560546 or call jean on 07870 185797”

5:45pm Some more formally updates, we spoke with North Wales Police – although they are the police so dont have pumps and dont have Canute-esque powers to order back water  – but they did say that over the course of the day they handled 60+ bits of information about flooding & poor weather. North Wales Fire and Rescue service have said “North Wales Fire and Rescue Service has been attending flooding incidents across the region throughout the day – mainly involving surface water and overflowing drains, with some water entering homes but with no homes or buildings seriously affected. Since 09.30hrs this morning, 44 flooding related calls have been received by fire and rescue service control room operators and officers or crews have attended 34 incidents involving properties affected by flooding.”

5:40pm Message in to us saying “Just got back from trying to go over Worlds End from Llangollen side. Its flooded and road is unsafe unless in four wheel drive.”

5:35pm Tom Williams has sent us the below shot of Bellevue Park’s football pitch, and Tomas Williams says “Heading along Ruthin Road, right next to the Redrow homes, and the water in the field next to it has flooded over. Needs a dam!”

5:26pm The Alyn in Rossett is of concern as still having a flood warning in place, with the water still rising. We popped down a few minutes ago and took this video of the flood defences being put in place:

5:15pm Roads around Wrexham seem to have benefited from the lull in the rain, with the majority now not having small rivers running down them. This has however exposed some dodgy tarmac, so still go easy! One good example is on Holt Road just before the speed camera where two big potholes have developed. Road closures as per post earlier still stand for now.

5:05pm We have just been out and about… first up an update for those Wrexhamites on the Chester Business Park! There is still major floods on one of the roundabouts (pictured) however the roads around are fine, and the A483 and A55 are clear. There is major flooding on the Ecclestone Road towards Pulford, so those who use it as a ‘rat run’ – dont!

4:40pm Tasha Griffiths sent us these updated pictures of the Gwenfro plus children re-enacting something from Indiana Jones to get home:

4:33pm Robert Williams has sent us this picture of The Dunks, and hes having to detour back from work around it!

4:30pm We are still trying to hunt an official list of whats closed and what is not but it doesnt seem there is one out there! The council tell us though they are not expecting an improvement in the weather until midnight tomorrow.

We have seen that Hightown road , Caia Road leading to it are closed, plus Ben from Wrexham telling us ‘Cefn Road shut Wxm Ind est end’.

4:07pm Katie Hughes sent us this picture from Overton Way in Acton , saying ‘a “puddle” on the way home from school, kids thought someone has made a new duck pond!’

3:59pm A few have asked for more details of our weather station, so below is a picture of it! Basically when the big chip floats out of the container it means there is a storm and there has been alot of rain!

3:45pm Rain has eased and stopped around Wrexham, however will likely restart around 6ish as the storm circles. Since the storm began last night we have registered 58.4mm of rain, that is 2.29 inches of rain. As of 9am that stood at 1 inch, however the rainfall rate for the last hour has been 0.8mm and now dropped to zero. The barometer has settled, remaining low after the sharp drop this morning. Unlike some parts of the country Wrexham has escaped gales, with a high of a relatively calm 10mph being recorded. All this data is collected by Wrexham.com’s own weather station, not the Met Office or BBC which uses data from Hawarden but for some reason claims its Wrexham!

3:39pm An update of incident in and around Wrexham: Bedwell Close in Rhos has the fire service there pumping water away after a small flood, Lambourne Court in Gwersyllt has a fire engine from Chirk helping out due to drains overflowing. Sandbags are now being used on Hightown Road to help divert the flow of water.

Woodhouse Lane outside of Marchwiel is also flooding, with sandbags in use there as well.

 3:35pm Just an update on the 4×4-in-river-by-Nant-Mill picture, apparently everyone has been accounted for so after initial concern over missing persons everyone is safe. Dean Kenny has sent us this picture of garages flooded in Johnstown:

3:30pm Pic sent in of the Rec aka  Penycae Park by Jess Lucy:

3:22pm We have just been out (and got soaked again strangely enough!) and have these two videos of the situation minutes ago… Firstly is the Hightown Road blockage, with cars trying to then deciding not to go through it:

Secondly on Caia Road we spotted a JCB dredging the Gwenfro to try and help with flooding to a carpark, and yes we did jump as a fire engine zoomed past!

3:05pm Neil Cooper sends this shot from by Kings School / Business Park in Chester , which will now ceratinly have a knock on effect for rush hour traffic for A483:

3:15pm Carl Hughes sent us these pictures of a land rover swept down river after trying to cross a ford at Nant Mill:

3:02pm Some updates sent to us:
– Deva Way hafod y wern school field and football field next to queensway very flooded .
-Caia Rd closed from Cefn rd sewage works up to industrial estate. Stryt Las in Johnstown – River running down the hill!
– The Alyn pub (still open!) sent us this pic, the river authority and pub manager assess the situation :

3pm – Back in now after a trawl around town… big update shortly!

2:15pm – Wrexham.com has just been to Glyndwr University car park where there is some proper flooding…

2:10pm Dave Moss tells us “Lower Kinnerton is waterlogged big time” and Melissa Evans sends us this picture of the new Arriva BusBoats in Plas Madoc!

2pm North Wales Police say “Due to the  levels of surface water on  the roads North Wales Police are urging motorists  not  to make unnecessary journeys. If you have to travel please keep  your speed down  make sure you take account of the  difficult driving conditions.”

1:55pm Flooding on the junction of Llwyneinion Road and Talwrn Road between Rhosllanerchrugog and Legacy Tower – this cracking picture was sent in by JaguarBreaker.co.uk :

1:43pm Buses are replacing trains between Bidston and Wrexham. No Arriva Trains Wales services are running between Chester and Crewe. Virgin Trains services may be delayed.

1:40pm Chris Trevor has sent us this picture of the Alyn in Rossett just now, which can be compared with our video down the page from midday. We were stood where the water is now lapping over the banks:

1:35pm Mike Meadows tells us “Summerhill road between Mold Road roundabout and Pendine two sections heavily flooded”

1:30pm Simon Guest reports Ffrwd Road ‘heavily flooded in places’ with Michelle Cook saying “Deep standing water on cefn rd to ind estate by five fords, river overflowed take care” and “Water flowing down prince charles rd, caia, drain popped near st anne’s church”.

1:24pm – North Clwyd Animal Rescue are reporting they are flooding and need urgent help with pumping equipment and or cleaning drains out. Plus, fostering animals tonight.  To help call 01745 560546 or call jJean on 07870 185797

1:15pm – We would suggest avoiding the A528 road out of Overton to Eyton just before the Plassey. There is a pretty fast flowing river of what I think is sewage judging by the smell running down the road.

Also the Glyndwr campus car park is flooded with inches of water and the park at he end of Smithy Lane is beginning to flood.

For those northwards, Ben Williams tells us the main road is starting to flood between Saltney Ferry and Airbus – with manhole lids lifting in the road.

Lee Jasper also says the ‘pant’ roads washed out on the A483 so ‘avoid’.

We reported earlier that the roundabouts by Chester Business Park were flooding, and its getting worse. Richard Jones says that there is now a car broken down on one of them, and we are told it is still single lane. If the rain keeps coming be aware for rush hour later.

1:05pm – Some Wrexham.com readers have emailed and tweeted us some pictures…

Emma Tattum followed up her report earlier on Hightown Road ‘puddle’ with this great picture!

Cliff from Inkxperts sent us this saying ‘Mold Road to Wrexham very deep water!”

Mark Waters sent us this of rhostyllen football pitch taken at 11.45am

1pm – Our weather station has now recorded 2.07 inches of rain since the storm started last night. We recorded an inch at 9am so in four hours we have had a further inch of rain!

12:45 After a big drive around the north of Wrexham and town centre we can report its wet out there! Roads in Gresford (by the Methodist Church) are verging on single lane due to overflowing drains. We have a video of Rossett below. The A483 has lots of standing water and has low visibility due to spray. The new industrial estate link road is quite good on the whole, there are two patches of aquaplane areas one just after Borras and the second on the slope down to behind the Gredington. We popped by the pub to see if the new road caused issues below, and are pleased to report it hasnt.

There is now an active flood alert for Station Road in Rossett by the Alyn, and parts of the Dee – check the map here. (Thanks to Handbridge.com for headsup!)

One possible trouble spot for later is that Wrexham Road in Chester is down to one lane by the second ‘business park’ roundabout, which if that continues will likely have knock on effect to A55 / A483 later on at rush hour.

Emma Tattum warns people about a ‘huge puddle’ at the bottom of Hightown Road, which we echo, plus ones on Holt Road, bottom of Chester Rd and Yorke Street!

River Alyn as of midday:

Gwenfro by St Giles Way as of midday:

12:20 Just been out and about around Wrexham… soaked! Big update shortly…

11:27 – Daily Post reporting that ‘firefighters called out to … wrexham to deal with flooding” – we spoke with North Wales Fire Service asking for details about such call outs, but they told us there have been ‘None related to flooding as yet’.

11am – Callum Edwards sent us this picture saying “drains already over flowing on the road and pavements” on the main road into Rhiwabon from Johnstown:

10:55 – The temporary lights on Poplar Rd by St Giles school are still broken, and still causing traffic problems.

10:45 The Environment Agency has been in touch to say “Widespread, persistent and heavy rainfall will move northwards today with localised torrential spells likely in mid and north Wales. Forecasts are that up to 60mm (almost 2.5 inches) of rain could fall later today but some areas could see as much as 80mm (over 3 inches). More flood alerts are expected in mid and north Wales today as the rain band tracks north. The rain is expected to clear later this evening but further persistent rain could return to parts of north and mid Wales overnight.”

10:30 Picture below by ‘wxmmoz’ of the Gwenfro higher than usual and dirtier:

10:15 – Weather stats update from our @wrexhamweather station : 38.4mm total rainfall since this storm began last night, 5.8mm in the last hour alone. This month has seen 63mm of rain overall ie. 60% of this months rain has fallen in the last 14 hours. The barometer is dropping fast which usually indicates colder worse weather…!

9:45 – Jo King tells us “Deep standing water on Mold Rd nr Gwersyllt. Also long traffic Q at B&Q roundabout. Poss caused by tunnel closure?”

9:10 – Incident on Wrexham bypass a483 towards Chester reported, with one lane closed. We are told a car has hit a barrier and left carriageway.

9am – We took a reading from our weather station, showing that overnight we had near enough bang on an inch of rain.

8:20 – Dave Reeves tells us that the new one say system at Stansty is creating issue with traffic backed up to the VW garage in Rhos Robin.Cheryl Brett told us it added an hour on to her journey.

8am – Natalie Jeffs tells us the temporary 3 way traffic lights on poplar road are not working so traffic is at standstill all the way into Hightown.

Last night: By midnight we had seen 0.3 inches of rain via our weather station.