'Asylum hotel' evacuated as boats dispatched to rescue migrants stranded in severe flooding
WATCH: Charlie Rowley and James Schneider react to Labour opening migrant hotels
GB NEWS
A hotel understood to be housing "asylum seekers" in Manchester has been evacuated after a day of heavy rain and flooding in the region.
The area surrounding the Britannia Country House Hotel in Didsbury became submerged in the high water after the deluge - and rescue teams have been forced to retrieve those inside via boat as a result.
One eyewitness at the scene told the Manchester Evening News: "There are boats here now... The police officer said that there's no power in the hotel or anything and they're having to use torches."
Another local, 40-year-old Sarah Baram, told the newspaper that her apartment block had been evacuated and she was having to stay with her family nearby.
Rescue teams have been forced to retrieve those inside via boat
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She said: "At 7.30 this morning we came out and everything was fine. At 9 o'clock, I came down in the lift, opened the doors to the car park and all of the water started pouring into the lift."
"We came outside through the stairs and the water level then, I'd say, was maybe only calf-deep. We went to the garage to get the car and it was probably knee-deep in the basement.
"We came back at 11 and the water level had risen half a metre or so. Now, we have been stuck not expecting we wouldn't be able to get back in. We've got no stuff."
A Greater Manchester Police statement earlier today said plans were "in place to start evacuating approximately 500 people from a hotel".
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The area surrounding the Britannia Country House Hotel in Didsbury became submerged in the high water after the deluge
BRITANNIA HOTELS
It added that water from the River Mersey, which had burst its banks earlier, was subsiding and was "now a lower risk affecting approximately 400 private homes with no widespread evacuation needed at present".
A "major incident" had been declared by authorities earlier today.
Greater Manchester Police said Bolton, Harpurhey, Stalybridge, Stockport and Wigan were the worst-affected areas, as well as Didsbury, home to the hotel.
The hotel, which is part of the Britannia chain that rakes in tens of thousands of pounds through taxpayer-funded migrant contracts, was at the heart of controversy surrounding the Channel crossing crisis in 2021 after an asylum seeker was found dead in his room.
Police were forced to use torches after a power cut struck the hotel, an officer told eyewitnesses
BRITANNIA HOTELS
Responding to today's incident, GMP's Chief Superintendent Colette Rose said: "We are continuing to monitor the whole of Greater Manchester as we look to co-ordinate the emergency response involving a variety of services.
"Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service have been key to this to ensure we can keep those people and communities safe after the severe weather we have had.
"Thankfully, due to the efforts of all involved so far, no one has been seriously injured or come to harm and would like to thank members of the public for their continued co-operation especially around the road closures in place and looking out for each other.
"Anyone still affected should continue to check the relevant detail being shared by their local council, the fire service and Transport for Greater Manchester to ensure they can get the support available that may be needed."
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