Fury over flooding problem

FLOODING is blighting life for residents at Meeting House Lane.
A bus negotiates 'the lake' at Meeting House Lane.A bus negotiates 'the lake' at Meeting House Lane.
A bus negotiates 'the lake' at Meeting House Lane.

Elizabeth McCrea (82), who has lived at Meeting House Lane for over 40 years, now has her very own garden pond.

Every time it rains, the elderly woman’s garden and Meeting House Lane floods.

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It’s the seventh time in a year the area has flooded and the flod waters were so deep on Friday that Elizabeth’s daughter Margaret Cowan was afraid to step into it in case she disappeared

Margaret fears if a child had got caught up in it they too would also have disappeared.

One girls - standing at six foot tall - walked into the puddle to show just how deep it was. The water came up to her knees.

“Every year the flooding outside my mother’s just gets worse and worse,” said Margaret. “But last week was particularly bad.

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“I could not walk into the middle of it - I would have got lost. My son’s girlfriend was able to walk into the puddle but I could not.

“When cars drove past it caused a tidal wave and the water came right up to my mother’s fence. We joke that my mother has her very own pond.”

Margaret fears that the amount of flooding could cause irreparable damage to her mother’s foundations.

“Every time it rains my mother has to ring the authorities to see if someone can come out,” she said. “They come out and fiddle about - I think they placed a camera down at one stage. They then tell us it’s the drains that causes the problems and then it happens again and again. It is every time it rains. It does not even have to rain that much.

“If it’s the drains then why can’t they get it sorted.

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“My mother is 82 and has lived here for 40 years and this situation is not getting any better. In fact it is getting worse. She gets annoyed and in her years this is the last thing she needs.

“The last time this happened was only six weeks ago. I just wonder how long is this going to go on for?”

A spokesperson for NI Water said that they will be carrying out a full investigation into the flood.

“Northern Ireland Water carried out desilting work in the affected area last year and we had hoped that this would have solved the problem,” said the spokesperson.

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“After the heavy downfall on Friday night, we suspect, at this stage, that this flooding may be the result of either a build-up of silt again, a partially collapsed pipe or that the level of the small river that runs near to Meeting House Lane was too high to allow the storm outfall pipe to carry the water away.

“We are currently carrying out a CCTV examination and intend to conduct a thorough investigation of the site to determine the cause and will carry out any remedial work as needed.”

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