THE Salford area of Blackburn fell victim to tremendous rainstorms at the turn of the last century.

Local historian Barbara Riding's investigations have found a couple of references to the terrible day.

She said that in "Blackburn Worthies of Yesteryear" George Miller quotes from Telegraph in 1901 saying that after 16 hours of incessant rain, the water reached counter height in the surrounding shops and filled the lower auditorium of the Theatre Royal.

Barbara says: "It goes on to say that a Mr Sam Kirtlan, a man of 'immense build', who had an eating house in Ainsworth Street, was seen wading through the flood from building to building, rescuing marooned shopkeepers by carrying them on his back to dry land."

Samuel Kirtlan

She also mentions that in the book "Blackburn in Old Postcards" by Peter Worden and Robin Whalley, there is a reference to a Mrs Astley, who had the newsagent's shop at the bottom of Church Street, was trapped and had to be rescued from an upstairs room.

Barbara says: "This must not have been an unusual occurrence because in Charles Tiplady's Diary for 1841, he writes: 'September 14, 10pm, a tremendous thunderstorm. Rain fell and quickly flooded the usual parts of the town. Poor Salford came in for a large share of the mud as usual.' "