Splashing time - for some of us
Reporter: by MARINA BERRY
Date published: 29 June 2009
PARTY TIME. . . Five-year-old Jamie Scott’s birthday party turns into a dream of a day for these youngsters in Whitehead Close, Friezland
OLDHAM was hit by flash floods yesterday as thunder storms unleashed torrential rain.
A total of 9mm fell in parts of Saddleworth in minutes, — had it continued at the same intensity it would have equated to an inch-and-a-half (34mm) of rain in an hour.
And the Chronicle’s weatherman, Damian Rodgers, warned there could be more to come throughout this week.
Almost 300 pupils at Knowsley Junior School, Stoneleigh Road, Springhead, got a surprise day off today, when the school was closed because of flood damage, and a leaking roof forced bosses to close the doors at Asda Living on Centre Retail Park, Chadderton, yesterday afternoon.
While for some the floods caused chaos as their homes flooded and they had to call firefighters to pump out the water, others, like these youngsters in Greenfield, had a splashing time.
Adrian Scott snapped the picture at his son Jamie’s fifth birthday party.
He said: “We were all inside having birthday tea when the heavens opened.”
Jamie’s 11-year-old brother, Dan, rounded up the party-goers and urged them outside to take part in races.
“They almost ended up swimming,” laughed their father.
“They loved it. We couldn’t keep them in. It was a wonderful day.
“It turned into a water festival and it couldn’t have been any better for a five-year-old’s birthday.”
Adrian added: “We were just swamped. The water came almost to the top of a man’s wellies, and we have no clothes left in the house — everyone had to borrow some.”
That was in Whitehead Close, Friezland, but elsewhere in Oldham the flooding caused chaos and disruption.
Firefighters were called to pump out a detached house in Old Lane, Scouthead, and several homes in Hollins Crescent, Greenfield.
Residents in Grotton Hollow, a notorious flash flooding spot, were left to mop up after the torrential downpour, and one, Gordon Beverley, said: “Water was coming up out of the grids.
“The house next door was flooded and rain turned a parking area into a miniature lake, flooding it to the depth of several inches.”
A Denshaw resident added: “We had torrential rain and thunder and lightening. I have never seen anything like it. It started about 2pm and began to ease off around 3.30pm.
Weatherman Damian said Saddleworth caught the worst of the downpour in the borough, and warned of an increasing chance of more bouts of heavy rain throughout the week.
He explained it was the result of hot continental weather coming from Europe clashing with moist, wet air coming in from the Atlantic.
He said the line would run down the Irish Sea all week, bringing rain when it drifted in over Oldham and leaving hot sunny weather when it moved out.
