Piccadilly Gardens flooded 'a foot deep' as Christmas markets taken down

Piccadilly Gardens was flooded with water 'a foot deep' following heavy rainfall last night (December 21). A section of the Manchester city centre site was submerged in water earlier today (December 22) as council workers took down the Christmas market stalls.

It comes after Storm Pia swept across the UK this week bringing strong winds and rain with gusts of up to 50mph hitting Greater Manchester. The Met Office had issued a yellow weather warning for wind earlier this week, but it has now been lifted in England.

However, heavy rainfall in Manchester left part of Piccadilly Gardens flooded. Manchester councillor Pat Karney told the M.E.N. that the water was approximately 'a foot deep' at lunchtime, but he said that the flooding had mostly cleared later in the afternoon.

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The Labour councillor said there is now a 'major plan' to get the gardens 'back to normal' in the new year. He said: "The council staff and the contractors had to work across the nine sites to take down the markets in the worst weather we've had.

"We've got a major plan in place to get Piccadilly Gardens back to normal as a non-event site. The grass will be reinstated in the three big areas fairly soon.

"In January, the whole of the event staging comes down and the gardens will be proper gardens."

Most of the Christmas markets across the city centre closed on Thursday (December 21) with stalls dismantled at several sites today. However, the food and drink stalls in Cathedral Gardens alongside the skate rink will remain open until New Years Eve (December 31).

Manchester council has