ONLY a month after reopening its doors after extensive repairs, a Leigh church was again threatened by floods.

Our Lady of the Rosary RC Church, in Plank Lane, underwent a near £100,000 refurbishment, after being swamped by freak floods last November.

Parishioners and parish priest Father Peter Devlin were quickly on the scene to save their precious place of worship during Tuesday's torrential downpour, which caused flooding powerful enough to blow-off manhole covers in the road outside the church.

As rain lashed the area, alert parishioners quickly built a sand-bag barrier around the church doors and, thankfully, there was no repeat of last November's disaster, which flooded Our Lady of the Rosary, destroying fabric and fittings.

Nervous onlookers could only pray that the water wouldn't breach the barricade.

One of the first on the scene was ward Coun Brian Thomas, who went on 'point duty' in the middle of Plank Lane, helping direct traffic away from the manhole danger.

Fr Devlin praised the volunteers who turned out to help, even attempting to boost defences by digging out the church car park.

He said: "We were panicking about the water, as we have only just moved back in after last time. The parishioners were great -- they were on the scene before me!"

Wellington-clad Coun Thomas was at the scene for several hours. He was concerned about rising levels, which threatened homes in Common Lane and Johnson Close, and was relieved when local authority and contractors moved equipment in to pump away the floodwater.

He said: "After last year's flooding, work was carried out on the culvert and problems with flows from Tinker Joe's flash, and to and from Pennington Flash, were resolved.

"Johnson Close suffers because it is at the lowest point. Our drainage people will be looking at the rear of Norley Road and Johnson Close on reclaimed colliery land. A culvert was put in there at a cost of £500,000.

"We will be putting cameras down the drain to see if there is a blockage in the links to the culvert. The drains just couldn't take such a tremendous downpour.

Thankfully, the church escaped damage -- a relief after had £98,000 spent on it."

On the same night, firefighters spent three hours pumping water out of the flooded cellar of the Greyhound Hotel, alongside the East Lancs Road, Leigh.

Heavy rain also caused flooding problems in Victoria Terrace, Bickershaw, which were hard-hit last November.

Regarding the Bickershaw problem, a sympathetic Coun Thomas said it appeared new drains were needed in nearby Bolton House Road to alleviate the problem.

But Lowton residents were fuming after gardens and driveways were flooded again this week.

John Mort, of Upton Close, explained that the drains regularly overflow in bad weather, causing disturbance to residents.

The manholes covering the main drains in Church Lane were burst open by the heavy rain on Tuesday evening.

Mr Mort said: "It's been happening for years and has never been sorted out. It only needs to rain slightly for them to overflow. It's an awful sight and smell, but it's also unhealthy -- diseases can be spread."

Mr Mort's 85-year-old neighbour was unable to leave her house as waste was up to her front doorstep.

Children took to the canoes in Pine Grove, Golborne, smiling in the face of adversity.

Glen Foster gave up trying to drain the floodwater from his large garden and turned it into a boating lake instead.

Smiling Glen said: "I'm not really bothered because the kids are having fun."