Parts of Lancashire were flooded this morning as rain continued to fall across the county.
More than 150 flood alerts and 60 flood warnings have been issued by the Environment Agency for England and Wales.
They included a flood alert for Rivers Yarrow and Lostock and other watercourses from Whittle-le-Woods and Chorley to Croston, including Leyland, Coppull, Eccleston, Lostock Hall and Bamber Bridge.
The agency warned that rainfall was expected to continue for the next 24 hours and river levels would remain high throughout this period.
Residents put out sandbags to protect their homes and schoolchildren struggled to cross Garstang Road in Broughton, near Preston, which was flooded near the Post Office.
Steve Billington, 57, lives in the road, in a stretch that forms part of the new Preston Guild Wheel route.
He said: “The only part of the road you can see is the white line in the middle, it’s flooded either side of the white line and onto the pavements on both sides.
“I’ve put sandbags out and so have two houses across the road.
“We’ve got water in our house, but the point I’m making is that the road is dangerous.”
Water levels of the River Wyre at St Michaels-On-Wyre village, near Garstang, also rose dangerously high up to its bridge.
Residents in Higher Croft, Penwortham, who last week said they had been virtually stranded after torrential downpours, said they were facing the same problems again.
Neighbours Peter Vickers, Dave Buller and Shirley Walker said complaints to South Ribble Borough Council and Lancashire County Council had fallen on deaf ears, leaving wheelchair-user Shirley, 65, marooned in her ground floor flat.
Peter, 62, of Higher Croft, Penwortham, said: “It is only Tuesday and the flooding is back, the water is halfway up the wheels of my car, and it looks like Shirley Walker will be trapped again.”
The road and nearby land in Grange Lane, Hutton was severely flooded after two days of heavy rainfall in the region.
And residents in Much Hoole, near Preston, were faced with flooding in Liverpool Old Road.
Water was more than four inches deep along the road for about 150 yards and the nearby children’s play area was also under several inches of water.
The Met Office, which issued an amber severe weather warning yesterday, said it was raining steadily across the vast majority of the North West today.
Alan Goodman, Met Office advisor, said: “All the pointers are for another predominantly wet day across most of the region with further outbreaks of rain for much of the day, although the intensity of the rain will wax and wane somewhat and a few drier interludes could develop almost anywhere from time to time.
“Most of the rain looks like being of the light or steady variety although a few heavier bursts are possible, especially this morning over the higher parts of Greater Manchester, Lancashire and over Cumbria in general.
“The rain area is expected to gradually shrink from the north during the course of tonight so that much of Cumbria and Lancashire should have dried up by the early hours of tomorrow.
“However, there could still be areas of rain affecting Cheshire, Merseyside and perhaps Greater Manchester come breakfast time tomorrow morning, although even this is expected to retreat away to the south as we go through Wednesday morning.
“Thereafter, apart from one or two showers possibly affecting mainly Cheshire/Merseyside towards the middle of the day it should become dry across the region with Thursday looking completely dry for all areas.”
Firefighters were called to a farm in Mawdesley, near Chorley, last night after some 40 square metres of water were said to have encroached the rear of the property.
A crew attended Finches Farm, Syd Brook Lane, at around 7.50pm to pump the water away.
There were no major incidents in Croston which has a history of serious flooding during such weather conditions.
Lancashire Police said Grape Lane and Town Road had to be closed for a while on Monday evening.
John Taylor, spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, said that most of the reported incidents of flooding had come from the Ormskirk and Skelmersdale areas in West Lancs.
Has your area been affected by flooding? Send your stories and pictures to neil.docking@lep.co.uk.
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