TOWN hall boss Mike Owen has praised his staff for showing true Blitz spirit in response to the Boxing Day floods.

The Bury Council chief executive was at his partner's parents' home in Leeds on Boxing Day when he received a call to say a pub had fallen into a river — sparking a mad dash through driving rain across the Pennines.

For the next 18 hours, Mr Owen divided his time between co-ordinating council staff and volunteers and speaking with the Home Secretary Liz Truss to ensure the rescue and relief effort was as good as it could be.

Describing the unprecedented Boxing Day events, Mr Owen said: "I took a call from the council's head of community safety, Ged McGhee, who told me the Waterside Pub had fallen into the river in Summerseat.

"I couldn't quite believe it, but I jumped straight in the car and headed back to Bury."

It took Mr Owen 90 minutes to reach Summerseat, as he was held up by a sinkhole on the M62 which had appeared during the storms.

He added: "When I arrived, it was a case of assessing the situation and opening up a rest centre at Holcombe Brook Primary School and speaking to dozens of different people about dozens of different things that all needed doing quickly.

"Nobody ever imagines that such floods will ever actually happen, but we have an emergency plan in place and we followed it as closely as possible."

The response includes knowing which Bury Council staff are on standby to come into work on their day off in an emergency situation, finding a list of how far away they live, their mobile numbers and who has keys to which buildings.

Mr Owen said: "The staggering and impressive thing about Boxing Day was that so many of the staff turned up. They are people who volunteer to be part of the emergency plan and don't get any extra reward.

"They do it because they care, and they showed an amazing spirit on the day."

As the situation in Summerseat came under control, Mr Owen's team got word of flooding on streets in Ramsbottom and then the problems spread downstream to Radcliffe.

"At one point, it was a case of thinking 'where will the next problem be?'

"We opened the rest centre in Radcliffe and there was a gas explosion so people had to be moved and this was all happening on a bank holiday.

“It was like the worst emergency situation drill dreamt up by the most sadistic planner!"

Mr Owen's job was to talking to flood victims and working with police, paramedics, fire officers, volunteers and council workers to ensure that everyone was safe and buildings were structurally sound.

On Boxing Day night, there were about 400 people without shelter who were looked after at Castle Leisure Centre and many more whose homes were without power.

Mr Owen worked late into the night dealing with media interviews and also had to devote part of his time to ensuring other areas of Greater Manchester were considered as he holds a county wide position relating to disaster management.

He said: "It was a hard day — and there have been a few hard days since, but it is what my position entails and, I had a warm house to go back to at the end of it all.

"My clear priority was those who did not and all of us who came out wanted to do whatever we could to help them."

On December 27, David Cameron led a COBRA meeting and Mr Owen had a conference call with Mrs Truss to ensure the Cabinet had all the information at hand to offer the help that was needed.

Three days later, Downing Street gave the council cash, of which £500 will be given to each flood-hit family in the coming days.

Mr Owen has also been overseeing the team that is handling extra bin collections, distribution of skips, cleaning teams, staff dealing with housing enquiries and engineers.

He said: "What I have said to my staff throughout the past few days is that many people have been through a lot and they must be treated with sensitivity, understanding and kindness and that is something I am seeing."

Mr Owen said that a public meeting would take place in mid-to-late January to give people an opportunity to say how well the council reacted to the floors.

It is likely that a report will be drawn up and put to a future Bury Cabinet meeting to assess whether the borough's flood response plan should be amended.