The day the bodies floated down the river
manchestereveningnews.co.ukThe storm began sometime on Friday. By the following day a month's worth of rain had fallen in less than 48 hours. It was so heavy one Mancunian described it as being like 'a water sprout had broken out over the city'.
By noon on Saturday the River Medlock was a raging torrent. One person was killed, there were landslides near Clayton railway station, goods and machinery were swept away at a printworks at Clayton Vale, a footbridge in Bradford was destroyed and homes on nearby Fairfield Street were submerged as river levels rose by 12ft in some parts.
Then even more disaster struck. READ MORE: Mum noticed tot's clothes were 'falling off him...' now he's lucky to be alive READ MORE: Inside GMP Christmas raids as Cannabis farm, firearm, cash and motorbikes uncovered The Medlock burst its bank near Philips Park, flooding the low-lying Catholic cemetery to the east.
Some 12,000 bodies had been buried there in the six years since the graveyard opened. It was where many from the poorhouse had been laid to rest and the most more common form of burial was in a public plot, which held up to 20 bodies.
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