Liverpool snow: School closures, flood alerts and travel disruption as heavy rain follows snow

Heavy snowfall brought chaos across large swathes of the UK over the weekend and the disruption continues today with schools forced to close, public transport services struggling and flood warnings in place.

A yellow weather warning for snow and ice remains in place across Merseyside until 12.00pm today (January 6), with heavy rain and sleet showers expected this into the evening. Combined with some melting snow, the heavy rainfall brings the risk of flooding and flood alerts have been issued. Here is everything you need to know about disruption in Liverpool and Merseyside.

Flood alerts for Merseyside

According to the Environment Agency, areas most at risk include River Alt and other watercourses from Huyton to Hightown including, Kirkby, Fazakerley, Maghull, Formby, Aughton, Sefton and Lunt.

The Wirral catchment with Heswall, Ellesmere Port, Bebington, Hoylake and Wallasey is also affected, as well as the River Sankey catchment with St Helens and Warrington.

Liverpool Airport delays

Liverpool Airport’s runway was temporarily closed on Sunday morning and officially reopened at around 1.00pm. Flights were delayed throughout the day and into the early hours of Monday morning and, despite the airport being open as normal, passengers are being warned of further delays.

According to the airport’s departure page, flights continue to be delayed with the 10.10am FR441 to Dublin due to depart at 11.40am, and the 11.25am FR 6658 to Cork estimated to leave at 12.30pm.

Merseyrail disruption

Due to flooding at Fazakerley, Merseyrail’s Headbolt Lane line is disrupted, with disruption expected until 12.00pm. According to Merseyrail, train services to Headbolt Lane are currently cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or terminated at and started back from Sandhills.

The Chester and Ellesmere Port lines are also disrupted due to flooding at Hooton, with the disruption expected until the end of the day. Train services to Chester are suspended and an additional 30 minute shuttle service is in place between Rock Ferry and Liverpool in both directions. Train services to Ellesmere Port will be terminated at and started back from Hooton.

Due to a points failure at Hunts Cross, the Hunts Cross and Ormskirk line is disrupted. This is expected to be resolved by 12.00pm.

School closures

While many schools are closed due to an inset day, some schools across Merseyside are closed to pupils due to adverse weather conditions. They include:

• Rainhill High School, Rainhill

Is more snow expected in Merseyside?

According to the Met Office, further wintry showers and icy stretches are expected across Merseyside, Manchester and Cheshire on Monday night, with the temperature dropping to as low as -3 °C. Tuesday (January 6) will see a mix of rain, sleet, snow and hail, but Wednesday and Thursday will ‘most likely’ be dry.