Residents still nervous ahead of severe weather despite improvements, says Garff MHK.
Laxey villagers remain cautious during storms a decade after the 2015 floods.
Residents in Laxey remain uneasy whenever severe weather is forecast, nearly ten years after a major flood washed away part of a bridge and left a double-decker bus in the river, Garff MHK Andrew Smith has said.
Smith, who has lived on Glen Road for almost four decades, said the village had suffered major flooding three times in the past twenty years. The most dramatic incident occurred on 3 December 2015, when Storm Desmond brought heavy rain, causing landslides and extensive damage across the Isle of Man, including significant flooding at the National Sports Centre in Douglas.
National attention at the time focused on Laxey, where a 200-year-old bridge collapsed and a bus was left partially submerged in the river. The driver managed to escape safely, and no passengers were on board.
Following the storm, an online “flood hub” was created to allow residents to report issues and access real-time information, and a volunteer-led flood action group formed to provide rapid assistance. Smith said that while substantial improvements had been made since then, residents still felt anxious when storms were predicted. Volunteers, he added, remained “always on call” to offer support, advice, and help with sandbags.
Laxey was hit again by serious flooding in 2019, prompting a major incident declaration and leaving some residents temporarily trapped while homes along Glen Road suffered significant damage.
Smith said the village was naturally prone to flash flooding “because of its position beneath Snaefell”, but the events of 2015 had been “critical” in prompting long-term improvements. The collapsed bridge was rebuilt, and a new wall was constructed to reinforce a previously exposed stretch of the river.
He stressed that ongoing maintenance remained essential, particularly with older infrastructure and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns. “There was a major learning curve because we talk about maintenance, which was fundamental really,” he said.
Although anxiety is inevitable during future storms, Smith said volunteers would continue doing “everything we can to help so we keep people and property as safe as we can.”
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