Hundreds of homes flooded and roads closed as severe storm lashes North

SOME of the worst storms on record lashed the North wreaking havoc on roads and flooding hundreds of homes.

The Meteorological Office and the Police Service of Northern Ireland has issued warnings to motorists after a second night of heavy rain.

The Roads Service was also supplying sandbags to houses at risk from flooding.

Some of the worst flooding was in Co Down, south of Belfast, where a combination of water flowing off the Mourne Mountains and a high tide along the coast was causing considerable flooding.

Sections of the road between Annalong and Newcastle were affected by mudslides, while the Omeath road in Newry, which crosses the border was closed.

The picturesque Co Antrim coast road was also affected by a landslide at the Black Arch, between Branch Road and Newington Avenue.

Flooding closed Troopers Lane in Carrickfergus, and also hit the Hightown Road and Corrs Corner areas of Glengormley.

Roads Service spokesman John White said staff were working through the night to deal with the flooding.

“In some cases they’ve had to close roads and, indeed, have been sandbagging properties to avoid flooding,” he said.

“It’s been particularly bad in the Newcastle area, where the main emphasis has been on trying to keep the roads open.”

Firefighters were also working throughout the night.

Brian Irvine from the fire service said the flooding was the worst he had ever seen. “Driving along the road there were manhole covers popping out off the road,” he said.

“They were shooting up like fountains with torrents of water streaming across the road. We had to drive very slowly because every time you went round a bend there was another severe flood and people were trapped.”

Meanwhile, the extremely wet weather which caused nationwide flooding is expected to continue for a few days.

Thickening cloud tonight will bring rain especially to the western half of the country. It looks like very unsettled windy weather in store through Thursday and Friday and Saturday with bands of rain or heavy showers at times though some brighter drier periods as well.

There is a risk of very windy conditions but overall it will not be too cold with temperatures around normal.