Wettest month since records began
Thursday, 21 August 2008
The Killane Road completely submerged in water as floods swamped the Borough on Saturday.
RECORD rain fall swamped the Limavady Borough in havoc this week as August became the wettest month on record for more than four decades.
Torrential summer rain drove people from their homes, blocked road and rail links and threatened to destroy farmers' crops as three months worth of rain fell within 12 hours.
Local emergency services were inundated with calls as the River Roe burst its banks, submerging roads, buildings, beauty spots and wild life in its path.
Water levels on the Limavady River began rising at around lunchtime on Saturday and continued right up until that evening where already copious amounts of roads were closed and many residential areas reported flooding. The Roads Service reported three major road closures in the Borough; the Drumrane Road, the Dowland Road beside Bolea junction and the entire Bolea Road were sealed off as water levels rose vigorously as the day passed. The bottom of the Bolea road still remained closed as The Chronicle went to print yesterday, but spokes woman for the Roads Service said it was hoped the road would fully open later in the day.
Dungiven residents seemed to be hit the hardest with the heavy rain fall with minor reports of flood damage from Ard na Smol and Finvola Park in the town. Nearby the Terrydoo Road, Ballyquin Road, Drumsurn Road and Ballyavlin Rd also experienced instances of flooding but problems were cleared up fully by Sunday afternoon with help from the Rivers Agency, NI Water, Roads Service and the local council.
The Killane Road became the scene of a huge rescue operation as four horses and a foal became trapped in a field just off the River Roe. Local man Davy McCool watched in anguish as floods quickly engulfed the five animals to nothing but a small island inside a once large and expansive field.
He says; " It was really horrific, the water just came out of nowhere and closed in on the horses leaving them nowhere to go. A couple of people jumped in to help rescue the horses but the water came up to their waist, it was quite scary."
Davy adds; " This all took place at around 9.00pm so it was getting very dark and there was a panic that the horses wouldn't get out. The police had to shine huge spotlights on the horses to keep track of where they were and to make sure they hadn't went under. Eventually the owners came with the horse boxes, wading down through the flooded field and led the nervous horses up to dry land, it was a great relief for the horses and their owners to get them safely into the horse boxes."
All authorities were on high alert across Limavady right up until the early hours of Monday morning. The police were called to a number of instances including the Dowland Road but passed most incidents onto the Rivers Agency.
A PSNI spokes person said; "On Saturday evening (16th) police received a report of flooding on the Dowland Road close to the small bridge. This information was passed to the Rivers Agency. A report was received later the same night regarding a number of horses trapped in a field off the bypass. The horses were rescued by the owner a short time later."
Speaking on the weekends weather, a Northern Ireland Water spokeswoman said the organisation was still dealing with he after math of the "extraordinary" flooding right across the province.
