St Columb’s service interrupted by great flood

Fortunately, no damage was caused when a torrent of melted snow poured from a formerly blocked drainpipe down on a shocked congregation who had gathered at the Cathedral for the 11am service on Boxing Day.

Dean of Derry, the Very Rev. William Morton, carried on with the service as Church wardens and parishioners rallied to deal with the invasion.

It turned out to be the result of a mass of compacted ice and snow in a Cathedral downpipe melting suddenly with the thaw and having nowhere else to go but proceed through an opening near the Governor Baker memorial.

The Dean told the Sentinel:

“All of us who were in Church on the morning of St Stephen’s Day received an unexpected shock because half way through the service there was the sound of what seemed like a waterfall coming into the Church.

“I was up at the Communion table and this water came in just above the Governor Baker memorial in the north aisle of the Cathedral - so on the left hand side looking up. It really took me by surprise because, I thought, my goodness me, you know, where is this coming from?”

He said it was the first time the powerful force of water had really been driven home in such spectacular fashion.

“It seemed as though somebody was just pouring water - like a huge container or tank of water - down a wall,” he explained.

“It was coming from a blocked downpipe which had been totally blocked up with ice, which with the thaw that was setting in on Sunday last had led to a conglomeration of water building up on top of the downpipe.

“So what happened was that this water seemed to build up in such a degree on the roof - gallons of it came down.

“I mean, the force of water is phenomenal, I’d never realised this as fully before. It came down the wall, over the monument and down over the seats, over everything around the place.

“It was quite a shock to those of us who were in Church.

“But some of those who were out - Church wardens and parishioners - rallied to the need and investigated the matter. A few phone calls were made and after about ten or fifteen minutes it began to subside somewhat.”

The Dean was full of praise for the architect and two officals from Woodvale Construction - the firm responsible for delivering the multi-million pound restoration of St Columb’s.

All three took time out on what is traditionally a day of rest, games and relaxation to attend to the problem.

“The architect arrived around about 1.30pm or so. Two of the officials of the Woodvale Construction contractors travelled the whole way from Fermanagh and with the architect went up onto the roof and saw exactly what the problem was and rectified it within the space of a couple of hours. It was excellent.”

As if the dramatic flood at the Cathedral wasn’t trying enough the Dean was then greeted by further problems at his home in Bishop Street.

“Now, that evening, I came into the Deanery at about 5pm on Sunday to be told that we had a water problem. What had happened was actually quite similar to what had happened in the Cathedral in that there was an ingress of water in a little room off one of the principal bedrooms on the very top floor at the front of the house.”

He said water had been streaming in and had managed to percolate through the floor, the ceiling of the room below, down into the middle floor, and even as far as his office.

“It actually made its way to a small degree down into the office, which was two floors below. I had to think very quickly about getting someone to see what this was. I felt it was a burst pipe or a burst tank or something,” he explained.

Fortunately, local plumber Frankie Bond, was on hand to come to the rescue and investigate the matter.

“Very graciously Frankie sacrificed the possibility of sitting at the fire or watching the TV on Sunday night and came in here and proceeded to investigate the whole problem and brought a ladder and everything and actually went up - took a cover off - and went up into the roof space,” said the Dean.

“But it turned out it wasn’t a burst tank or a pipe or anything, rather, it was a similar problem to the one we had in the Cathedral. It was compacted ice and snow, which with the thaw had begun to melt.

“It had seemed somehow to have gotten into the roof space, whether it was something to do with where the house joins to the first house in St Columb’s Court, or what I don’t know.

“But there does appear to have been a very big build up of ice and snow and I suppose again with the force of the quantity of water that had formed.”

Rev. Morton insisted the melting ice and snow - which also caused problems in the adjacent buildings at St Columb’s Court - was more of an inconvenience and source of anxiety than anything else.

“There is no damage fortunately. It’s just the inconvenience of it and the anxiety of it,” he told the paper.

“You know, we are spending three or four million on the building, although this is no reflection whatsoever on the work that has been carried out to an expert degree by this firm who are excellent and with whom we are very pleased.

“It is no reflection on that at all. It is something that will happen in a new house as someone said to me. It’s just that whenever there is a build up of water like that and it can’t get away, no matter how small the aperture it comes in.”