Northern warned its customers not to travel on many of its routes in the north-west of England because of increasingly poor conditions following torrential rain across the region.

Storm Christoph has brought heavy rain and snow across England and Wales, with hundreds of people being evacuated from their homes overnight into Thursday due to widespread flooding.

Northern said routes covering north of Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria are affected by a “do not travel” alert, as a number of routes have experienced issues with flooding.

Many routes south of Manchester are still currently expected to run with some exceptions.

Anyone who needs to make essential journeys on Thursday has been asked not to travel before 12pm, to allow extra time for travel and to check carefully before setting off as the situation evolves.

Northern added it will continue to work alongside Network Rail throughout the night to prepare as many rail services as possible to resume on Thursday.

Chris Jackson, regional director at Northern, said: “We have worked for the last few days, in conjunction with colleagues from across the industry, to keep our services operating. And, where possible, we have supported those services with replacement buses when the flooding meant running trains was impossible.

“Unfortunately, we have had to … advise our customers that they should not travel before Thursday 12pm across many of our north west routes.

“The situation is constantly changing so I urge anyone who needs to make essential journeys over the next few days to allow extra time for travel and to check carefully before setting off.”