North west floods: More than 300 homes report flood damage

More than 300 homes in the north west have reported flood damage to Derry City and Strabane District Council.

That figure was revealed following a meeting of the council's adverse weather working group earlier on Monday.

Clean-up efforts are continuing in Londonderry and Strabane following flooding in the region at the weekend.

It is understood 70mm of rain fell in the space of five hours, overwhelming river banks and drainage systems.

Any home that has been damaged by the flooding can register their property with the council to avail of the Department for Communities Emergency scheme.

This fund is available to assist householders by providing up to £1,000 to help make their home fit to live in following inspections by council staff.

Business premises affected by flood damage do not qualify for financial support under this scheme.

"To date in excess of 300 domestic properties are registered," a spokesperson for the council said.

"Twelve members of the Environmental Health team have been on site since lunchtime on Sunday carrying out inspections and processing the applications as a matter of urgency."

The spokesperson said they are "aiming to process and complete up to 200 of the applications by close of business on Tuesday".

They added that the council would continue to participate in regular meetings this week as part of a wider multi-agency response to address the key issues arising from the flood.

Six people were rescued by emergency services on Saturday evening as torrential rain fell across the area.

Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) group commander David Doherty said crews had received more than 100 calls and responded to 49 incidents.

"Obviously our priority, initially, because we did get such a large volume of calls was responding to life-risk calls where we had to perform rescues," he said.

He added: "When we were turning up to incidents we were finding very fast moving water, that was pulling inside peoples' houses.

"A lot of the places that were flooded were places that have been flooded previously."

Between 19:00 BST on Friday and 07:00 on Monday, Castlederg, in County Tyrone, recorded 60.6mm of rain and there was 36mm at the Giant's Causeway, according to BBC NI weather presenter Angie Phillips.

At Magilligan, in County Londonderry, there was 78.4mm of rain between 10:00 on Saturday and 22:00 on Sunday.

"To put that into context, 40mm is almost half of what would be expected during the whole month of July," said the weather presenter.

In August 2017, more than 100 people were rescued after 63% of August's average rainfall fell within nine hours in the north west.

The Met Office had issued a yellow weather warning for Northern Ireland from midday on Sunday until 21:00 BST.

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) said it "was well prepared for this event".

"We were on a heightened state of alert with staff on standby, even though the weather warning was provided at short notice," a DfI spokeswoman said.

It was estimated about 40 properties in the north west may have been flooded, the spokeswoman added.

"As a result of the efforts by the department through Saturday evening and into the early hours of Sunday morning, many homes were protected from flooding," she said.

But Foyle DUP MLA Gary Middleton said there was "chaos" in terms of the response in some areas.

"We were not able to get access to the (DfI) depot at Lisnagelvin. Sandbags were there, forklifts were blocking those sandbags in, we couldn't get access to them. It was an unacceptable situation," he said.

Mr Middleton said "serious questions will be asked".

The DfI spokeswoman said the forklift "did not stop access to the sandbag stock".

"The depot remained busy with the distribution of sandbags throughout Saturday with stock replenished again on Sunday," she said.

Infrastructure Minister John O'Dowd is due to visit the area on Tuesday.

Emma Relf lives in Ballycolman in Strabane.

It has been badly affected by flooding over recent years.

"This is the fourth time we have been flooded. We are always on high alert," she said.

She said she had been out for a time on Saturday evening. When she returned home at about 21:30, it was "just carnage".

"Our houses were just completely wrecked right through. It was coming in the front door and out the back," she told BBC Radio Foyle.

Her home has been badly damaged by flooding before including twice in 2020.

"I was one of the lucky ones to have house insurance. I have just finished getting new everything and here we are again.

"I am just fed up. We have been made promises to get a solution.

"I can not live like this, we cannot carry on like this. Two years after false promises we are sitting looking out with sandbags everywhere and a house filled with dirty filthy water, black sewer water through our house," she said.

"I have put my heart and soul into this house, we just need answers, we just need a solution," she said.

Many would like to remember the weekend for the Foyle Maritime Festival or enjoying the great outdoors.

However, it was the weather that was making the headlines for others.

An area of low pressure moved past the north west bringing weather fronts and very unsettled conditions.

As those fronts moved in against quite warm and humid air, it created very unstable convection conditions with rapidly rising air.

As a result, huge cumulonimbus clouds built up and gave torrential downpours and thunderstorms which gave a lot of rain in a short spell of time.

That lead to the flooding in parts of the west, especially in Derry and Tyrone with many homes and businesses badly affected.

Also among those now counting the cost of the flooding is Glendermott Cricket Club on Derry's Waterside.

Peter McCartney of the North West Cricket Union said a number of local cricket clubs are badly affected.

"We are trying to get an assessment [of the damage] at the moment. We hope the outfields and the pitches will be okay but more concerning is water getting into club houses, damaging changing rooms, bars, machinery," he said.

He said the cost of the damage will largely fall onto the "four or five" affected clubs.

Derry City and Strabane District Councillor Rachel Ferguson told BBC Foyle no substantial infrastructure work has taken place in the north west since the area was badly affected by floods in 2017.

A Department for Infrastructure scheme is going through "a process of design," she said, "to determine if it is affordable".

"But nothing has been done at this stage, the design has not been completed," she said.

SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan said major infrastructural changes are moving too slowly.

Some design and ground works have been under taken in relation to flood schemes in Eglinton and Drumahoe, he said

"They will require a full environmental impact assessment, that is not something that is done overnight.

"You are looking potentially at a year or two before any work starts on the ground. That is far too long".

Debbie Caufield, the manager at Eglinton Community Hall, said the local community needs more flood protection.

"We have been waiting now quite a couple of years for a flood alleviation scheme. We hope maybe this will be the catalyst in saying this cannot happen again in this area".

The department said its operational teams were on a heightened state of alert and it responded to almost 300 calls to its flooding incident line.

It estimates that more than 8,000 sandbags were deployed.

Derry City and Strabane District Council said it worked with relevant agencies as part of a multi-agency response.

The Emergency Payment Scheme has been made available by the Department for Communities to assist those worst affected by the floods with a £1,000 payment.