Hannah Beau provided regular updates on the situation from her apartment window (Image: William Lailey / SWNS)
One woman’s start to 2025 quickly became a nightmare as she found herself trapped in her apartment building with her car “ruined” beneath the .
user Hannah Beau shared her ordeal on New Year’s Day, posting a video from her window at Meadow Mill in Stockport, showing the grim scene below. Her footage revealed the car park with numerous vehicles almost completely after a disastrous end to 2024.
“I’m on the fourth floor so it’s obviously not going to reach us, but my car is underwater – it’s definitely written off,” she lamented while surveying the area. “[Rescuers] are handing water up to those on the first floor in a boat, and the emergency services are on standby.”
Close to the inundated car park, four ambulances, three fire engines, and a police car were stationed, responding to the crisis. Hannah expressed her frustration: “We have no power, no transport, no clean water,” adding sarcastically, “So this is a really great start to 2025. I’m accepting thoughts and prayers.”
A couple of hours later, she updated her followers that firefighters had since supplied her with water and the flood level was receding. However, she now faced a new hazard: an “oil spill” had spread across the area, raising fresh alarms for the emergency teams.
“The road looks disgusting – it’s covered in mud,” she commented, noting that efforts were being made to evacuate “elderly and vulnerable” residents. Hannah continued, however: “So far [the rest of us] are being told just to stay put.”
She then navigated through the building’s corridors using only candlelight. “I feel like I’m from the Victorian era and ironically this building is a former Victorian mill,” she quipped. In another update, Hannah revealed that TV news crews had arrived at the scene, while the oil was causing a foul smell in the area.
“If I don’t laugh I’ll cry,” she confessed. “I’ve lost my house and my car on the first of January! ” Her updates started gaining traction online, with one video quickly garnering over a million views. “Mountain rescue are now here and they’re checking over everyone’s cars,” Hannah reported later in the day.
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“I shouted down to them and most of them aren’t secure – they’re destroyed. They said water has gone in pretty much every car.” Despite some ground now being visible, Hannah admitted: “It’s still not looking good. We still haven’t been evacuated but it looks like some progress is being made.”
Finally, in her last clip, she announced her evacuation was underway after being instructed to “pack bags” by rescuers. Hannah and approximately 400 others were transported to a council refuge centre at Holdsworth Mill in nearby Reddish. “People are in shorts because we’re going to have to be sprayed down and ‘anti-bacterialed’ and hosed down on the way out,” she added at the end of her clip.
“Please, please make sure to take anything you need important, you will be out for a while!” one of Hannah’s followers implored in the aftermath. “It’s happened to me before take important docs with you, medication etc.” Another follower advised: “Get rucksacks! Put on back cross over bag to take things with you.”
A third criticised: “Shocking that they let the drainage deteriorate to the point of flooding bet the drains haven’t been cleared in years.” While a fourth suggested: “Insurance will be a pain as they will try and claim it was an act of god and try to wiggle out of it.”
In response to the incident, meanwhile, Greater Manchester Police’s Chief Superintendent Colette Rose stated: “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.”