Camlough assesses flood damage as village prepares for Storm Ciarán

Residents in a County Armagh village have spent the day dealing with the aftermath of devastating flooding.

Main Street in Camlough remains closed after surface water forced motorists to abandon their cars, and damaged homes and businesses.

In the relative calm before Storm Ciarán arrives on Wednesday, some took the opportunity to assess the damage.

Paul, a volunteer at Camlough Rovers FC, brought BBC News NI on his morning pitch inspection.

The news was not good.

The club's 3G pitch, often used by youth teams and children's birthday parties, was almost entirely submerged.

"It's devastating. We're under six inches of water here," he told BBC News NI.

"There was supposed to be a Halloween camp here on Wednesday but that's not going to happen. There would have been maybe 70 children here Wednesday, Thursday, Friday," he continued.

"There will be nothing for the kids all this week."

Even when the floodwater recedes, Paul fears that the surface of the pitch may be irreparably damaged.

"We are a charity here and we're just panicking," he added.

"We don't know what way this 3G is going to work out, whether it is going to need resurfaced."

Asked if the club could afford to resurface the pitch he said: "No, definitely not - that would be big big money."

Paul's 17-year-old daughter Ellen plays for Northern Ireland and is worried the damage to the pitch may have an impact on her international ambitions.

"I'm not going to have any club training at the moment. I'm going to be out of football for a good while.

"The other ones are going to be training away and I'm going to have no training so it's going to impact my fitness and everything. It's going to have a big downside."

On Monday, Camlough resident Gary Murphy had a sleepless night. With rain still falling, he feared for his three horses.

"I came down here yesterday for feeding and the place was flooded, I couldn't get at them," he confessed.

"They were stressed out, they were stranded. Just a wee small island was all they had, and the water was just rising, rising, rising."

On Tuesday morning, with flood waters water still rising, Gary rang 999. The operation lasted hours, but the afternoon the fire service had managed to move all three horses to safety.

Reunited with his animals, Gary was pleased to find the horses in good health.

"They're a bit shaken, I'll have to ring the vet here and see what I can give them. Hopefully they'll be all right now," he added.

"The fire brigade and animal rescue were very helpful. They were absolutely brilliant."

For some in Camlough, the flooding hit closer to home.

Paul Brannigan lives near some of the worst affected areas. His home began to flood late on Monday evening.

"I've had four inches of water in each room, I've had to brush it out. There's a fair bit of damage."

In spite of the water's retreat, Paul's house continued to see inflows.

As motorists drove through the deep puddles that mark even the open sections of Main Street, his home sustained further damage.

"When the lorries or vans go past it soars and it just runs straight in."

Paul told BBC News NI that his home had never previously been flooded.

"[The water] would have built up there a bit before but never came up to the door. Never, never, never anything like this before."

Paul can count himself as particularly unlucky: "It's got me twice."

Pointing towards heavily flooded bridge a few streets away, he added: "My yard is just below there."

With the village already facing significant disruption, attention will now turn to the unwelcome arrival of Storm Ciarán.