Council thanks staff and local communities for Storm Darragh response

Cheshire East Council’s highways teams responded to more than 160 emergency reports over the weekend as Storm Darragh brought heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 50mph to the borough.

Since the storm hit on Friday, highways crews have attended almost 120 incidents of fallen trees and almost 30 incidents of flooding, with dozens of emergency closures needing to be put in place as a result. 

At one stage, almost 45 road closures were in place – just three road closures and one lane closure remained as of Tuesday lunchtime. 

Councillor Nick Mannion, leader of Cheshire East Council, said:

“While we are fortunate in Cheshire East that we did not experience the same level of impact from the storm that other parts of the country did, including our neighbours in Cheshire West and Chester, the damage and disruption caused has still been severe.  

“Our highways teams dealt with more calls over the course of the weekend than they did during the whole of October, which itself featured two ‘named’ storms. 

“Crews worked throughout the day and night to make roads safe and reopen them to the public and I am extremely proud and grateful for their efforts. 

“Thankfully, most of the emergency road closures have now been lifted, and our highways teams are working hard to clear the remaining ones as soon as possible. 

“Unfortunately, some of those that do remain in place depend on support from energy and telecoms providers before they can be reopened. This is due to fallen trees causing damage or being tangled up with power lines.” 

Councillor Michael Gorman, deputy leader of Cheshire East Council, said:

“As well as to our highways teams, our thanks also go to other colleagues across the council who worked together to ensure the impact from Storm Darragh on our communities was kept as minimal as possible. 

“In addition, I’d like to thank residents who gave or offered their assistance, including those from the farming community, to help clear and reopen roads, and to those who called in to provide information about incidents needing urgent attention.”