Residents 'frustrated' by repeated flooding
· BBC NewsEimear Flanagan
BBC News NI
People who have experienced repeated flooding feel their "houses and livelihoods are on the line" every time a storm is forecast, a Mid Ulster councillor has said.
Dan Kerr was speaking as clean-up efforts continue in the aftermath of weekend flooding in Coalisland, County Tyrone and Dundonald in County Down.
The independent councillor was among those who assisted residents in Kings Row, Coalisland, when water entered up to 15 homes during Storm Bert on Saturday.
Mr Kerr said he believed it was the fourth time the street has been flooded since 2015 and householders feel "very frustrated".
Residents of Park Avenue in Dundonald, where about 18 homes were damaged, had also raised concerns about flooding in their area.
"This can’t happen again when there is heavy rain predicted, it's unacceptable in the 21st Century," Mr Kerr told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.
He said the repeated flood damage was having "physical, emotional and financial consequences on the residents of Kings Row."
"It damaged flooring, a lot of appliances. It just had a very devastating effect within a quick turn of a few hours."
He said the residents "believe they’ve been let down several times by the statutory agencies".
"They believe there needs to be accountability as to why this keeps happening."
Mr Kerr said research had been carried out in Kings Row area recently after he and other local representatives raised concerns about flooding.
He said they were told that work would “get to the bottom of the issue, but obviously not”.
The independent councillor has called for all the statutory agencies to get around a table again and sort it out.
"There needs to be a sit-down with residents and they need to explain themselves as to why this has happened again because the residents of Coalisland and the other affected areas deserve better."
Water 'up to second step' on the stairs
Parts of Northern Ireland recorded more than half a month’s rainfall during Storm Bert, which began to batter the UK and Ireland in the early hours of Saturday.
In Dundonald some residents woke to find they were trapped by rising flood water and had to wait until it receded before they could open their doors.
A number of parked cars were damaged, along with the 18 properties which were flooded.
Sarah Kirkwood, who could not get back into her flooded home after running out to get emergency sandbags, has temporarily moved in with her parents.
"The whole downstairs and the whole front garden and back garden are just mud and wet," she told Good Morning Ulster.
"The water was up to maybe the second step on the stairs, through the ground floor of the property."
Same street flooded in 1970s
The damage could not be assessed on Saturday because her house was still water-logged, but she is hoping council officials will inspect it on Monday.
Ms Kirkwood said she will also have to speak to her insurance company.
She has lived in Park Avenue for eight years and this is the first time she personally has experienced flooding in the street.
However, footage from BBC Northern Ireland archives, external shows that homes in the same area were badly damaged by flooding twice within a year in the early 1970s.
"The engineer here assured us this couldn't happen again for a least 30 years," a frustrated resident told Scene Around Six on 5 July 1971.
"All these houses have been redecorated, refurnished and 11 months later destroyed again," the man added.
'Like a monsoon'
Stormont's Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has activated an emergency payment scheme to help support people whose homes were flooded by Storm Bert.
Bert also caused a landslide in the Glens of Antrim where a roadside verge was washed down a steep hill - the second such incident on the road this year.
In the Republic, the Donegal town of Killybegs was one of the worst affected areas.
Dramatic footage was widely shared of homes and businesses in the coastal town being inundated with water on Saturday.
Independent councillor Niamh Kennedy told Good Morning Ulster that Killybegs flooded before in 2017, but this time the effects were much worse.
"It was absolutely horrendous on Saturday morning," she said.
"If flooded through a lot of the houses and right down the street like a monsoon really - it was incredible."
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She said 22 properties have been damaged and "it was quite traumatic for everybody".
Ms Kennedy added that welfare staff visited the town over the weekend and some residents availed of emergency supplies of food and clothing.
"Obviously a lot of the houses have no power, the electricity is gone," she explained.
Asked about the cause, the councillor said she did not think reports that the flooding had been caused by a tree blocking a river were "100% accurate".
However she did say there used to be a scheme in which farmers were paid to remove debris from waterways, and that finance was no longer being provided.