The breach, which came after the unusually heavy downpour of rain earlier in the week, swept a section of the 200-year old canal into a nearby farmer's field in the early hours of Wednesday 26 September.
Our engineers have estimated that the repairs are likely to cost around £1.5 million and are aiming to get the canal re-opened as quickly as possible.We can fund the repair bill from our contingency fund but this will divert money from other essential maintenance and improvement works.
Exceptional rainfall
David Baldacchino, waterway manager for the Canal & River Trust, explains: “As a new charity something of this scale and cost really sets us back, diverting precious resources from other work on the waterways. While we have a contingency to cover events of this kind it takes away resources from elsewhere.”
Walter Menzies, chairman of the Canal & River Trust's Manchester & Pennines Partnership, adds: “The Trent & Mersey Canal is a huge asset to the local area and an engineering marvel. Today we are counting the costs of the deluge and asking local people who love the canal to help us overcome this major problem.”
Anyone wishing to support this emergency appeal to repair the breach can visit www.canalrivertrust.org.uk/breach or alternately text BREACH to 70800. Every penny dontated will go directly to repairing the canal.