Boaters stranded at Christmas after Whitchurch collapse on Llangollen Canal

Dozens of people have been left stranded for Christmas after a giant hole emerged in a section of the Llangollen Canal in Shropshire on Monday.

Initially thought to be caused by a sinkhole, engineers later said the embankment in Whitchurch had collapsed, causing water to flood out. Two boats were left at the bottom of a deep trench and several others lay on the dry canal bed.

Many other liveaboards – people who live on narrowboats full-time – now cannot pass through the area, leaving them stuck either on the Llangollen side of the collapse, or the side that joins the Shropshire Union Canal.

This includes Geoff and Pamela Poole, who were just three boats away from the breach. They were awoken by neighbours, who knocked on their boat door at 04:20 GMT on Monday.

“The whole boat was listing and everything had fallen,” Mrs Poole said.

“I had literally just watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas last night and I saw the Christmas tree on the floor with broken ornaments.”

The couple, from the USA, had been on their boat for just two-and-a-half months.

“We literally retired, left two kids back in the States, flew over here, bought the boat back in May and then spent months getting it ready,” said Mr Poole.

“That’s the end of our plans for the winter.”

He said the pair, who were moored near the Grindley Brook Locks, would now have to spend Christmas in a hotel.

Although they can visit family nearby on Christmas Day, they do not have a spare bed.

“[It’s] totally disruptive – four days in a hotel, and then we’ll see what we’re going to do,” Mr Poole said.

On Monday evening, the couple packed their essential belongings into bags and loaded them into a trolley, ready to leave their home behind for the time being.

“We have the cutest little tree, our bed is all covered in little lights, I’d made a home-made wreath,” said Mrs Poole.

She said their biggest concern was not knowing when they would be able to get back on the boat and move on.

“When we started evacuating, we literally thought it could be six months to a year, because that’s what happened at the Bridgewater,” Mrs Poole said.

She added that they had just been Christmas shopping for special food to celebrate the occasion together.

“You have these big dreams of our first Christmas on the boat,” she said.

“We’ll have next year.”

Phil Johnson, originally from East Yorkshire, moved on to his boat in May.

He was planning on travelling back home on Tuesday, before returning to Whitchurch on Boxing Day.

“I certainly won’t be having Christmas in East Yorkshire,” he said.

“Because of the way the boat is at the minute, I don’t want to leave it.

“Basically all my personal belongings are on that boat – everything that I own is on that boat.”

He said some friends, who lived in Oxford, had driven up to Whitchurch to give him keys to a flat they owned there, so he had somewhere to stay.

He will spend Christmas Day with some friends in the town.

“The boating community, any disaster like this, everybody’s helping each other,” he said.

For those needing emergency accommodation, Norbury Wharf has offered its boats free of charge.

Like the Pooles, Mr Johnson said he had woken up in the early hours of Monday to cracking, banging and shouting.

He saw water flowing out of the breach in the embankment, adding it “sounded like Niagara falls”.

“I went past the bow of my boat and that’s where I saw that first boat in all the pictures and the bow was being flooded,” he said.

“Then the first boat was flat at the bottom, and there was another one teetering on the edge.

“The back of the boat went down and instantly it looked like that scene of the Titanic film.”

No injuries were reported and Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said it had supported about 15 people and taken them to safety.

The Canal and River Trust said it did not know how long the repair would take, and that its priority was to ensure boaters were supported, and that the area was made safe.

On Monday, it said it was also too early to know how the embankment had become compromised.

“Our 200-year-old canals and structures are regularly inspected and monitored as part of routine operations,” it said.

“These checks ensure everything remains in good working order and that any issues are identified and addressed promptly.”

Another liveaboard, Chris, who is moored at the Grindley Brook Marina, said when she woke up at 05:00 GMT on Monday, she fell into the wall of the boat because it was listing over.

Looking ahead to Christmas, she said: “I haven’t done any [Christmas] food shopping because I can’t think about it at the minute, I just want to get the boat right.

“I know that sounds really dramatic, but it’s not.

“Where do you go? This is home.”

What little water is left in the marina is shallow, not enough to float a boat.

Chris said it had been an emotional day. For many, she said life on a boat was all about being on the move and yet everyone had suddenly found themselves stuck.