Weather causes misery forlocal residents

Many roads were impassable, homes had to be sandbagged and traffic was gridlocked around Lisburn and Moira last Thursday as Northern Ireland was struck with heavy rain.

The main Airport Road was closed for a time due to flooding underneath the railway bridge, while many roads and fields were submerged in as much as two feet of water last week.

Lorries and cars were stuck in flooded areas around Moira while the Cockhill Road, Feney Road, Clarehill Road, Blaris Road, Laney Road and the Innisloughan Road were all closed for a time.

Councillor Jim Dillon had to call with a pensioner who suffers from Parkinsons and was terrified the flooding would come into his house. three times in the one day.

© Presseye.com. 
Flooding at Clarehill Road, Moira.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by TONY HENDRON/PRESSEYE.COM© Presseye.com. 
Flooding at Clarehill Road, Moira.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by TONY HENDRON/PRESSEYE.COM
© Presseye.com. Flooding at Clarehill Road, Moira. Mandatory Credit: Photo by TONY HENDRON/PRESSEYE.COM

“The water was right up to the man’s door and quite rightly he was panicking and righly so,” Mr Dillon said. “When I was travelling from Belfast to Moira I had to go to the Maze and then to Hillsborough to get home. It was real chaos.

“I had many complaints from residents about the Clarehill Road especially at Spences Bridge. More needs to be done by the authorities to prevent such flooding.

“Moira is a low lying area and I understand that when it rains there is little that can be done but agencies such as the DRD and the NI Water can at least check that gullies are not blocked.”

Emergency measures involving the PSNI, Fire Service, Department for Regional Development, Rivers Agency, NI Water, Transport NI, Department of the Environment and the Department of Finance and Personnel swung into operation to deal with the repercussions of the heavy rainfall.

It was Saturday evening for many areas before flooding had cleared.