'Everything in my home has been destroyed' says flood victim

Pauline Donnelly was rescued by members of the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service special flood response team as the water swept off the mountain into the ground floor of her property at River Road, near Draperstown.

“I think what happened is now only beginning to sink in,” she said a week after the flood. “Everything has been destroyed. My new kitchen was destroyed and we didn’t have time to get any of the furniture out. Everything is mud, dirt and sand.”

Although no one was injured, Mrs Donnelly is concerned that it might happen again and this week met with officials from the Rivers Agency to find out if a flood prevention grant could be obtained.

She claimed she had been promised a grant several years ago when a similar flood occurred.

Mrs Donnelly, who is now living with family members, says she is more hopeful this time that some action will be taken to prevent the water running off the mountain into her house.

She has lived at the property at Straw for 32 years and says last Tuesday’s flood caused by Storm Francis was “the worse I can remember”.

SDLP councillor Martin Kearney, who was at the scene, praised the rapid response of the emergency services.

“Thankfully three generations of the same family were rescued in a controlled manner. The family now must begin the terrible clean-up that will be required to make their house a home again,” he said.

“All during the rescue, messages were coming in of further flooding further down river. Locals could not remember the last time this river was in such a flood.”

--- A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

You can also enjoy unlimited access to the best news from across Northern Ireland and the UK by subscribing to newsletter.co.uk

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Thank you