Sections of Newry under water as flooding hits Northern Ireland
A man canoes down a flooded Sugar Island in Newry Town, Co Down. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire
Sections of the Co Down city of Newry are under water following a night of heavy rain.
The scenes come after an amber warning for rain in Northern Ireland overnight, just ahead of the expected arrival of Storm Ciarán across Ireland on Wednesday.
Newry’s canal burst its banks, flooding Sugar Island, Kildare Street, Canal Quay and part of Bridge Street.
Police have advised people to avoid Newry city.
Just across the Irish border in Co Louth, a bridge close to Riverstown partially collapsed amid rising waters on the Cooley Peninsula, and there was flooding in Co Wexford.
Newry resident Desy Heatley described the scenes as a “repeat of what happened here around 35 years ago”.
“We were up and down here in boats,” he said.
“It’s pretty bad, I’m sure all the shopkeepers are raging, we’d no warning or nothing.”
A UK Met Office amber rain warning covering counties Antrim, Down and Armagh lifted at 9am.
A yellow rain warning covering large parts of the region remains in place until 12pm while a yellow warning for the whole of Northern Ireland comes into effect at 9pm on Tuesday and lasts to 9am on Wednesday.
Met Éireann has issued three weather warnings, two for rain and one for wind. Nine counties, including Cork, Kerry and Waterford are impacted.
Elsewhere, roads have been closed due to flooding, while train passengers on the main Belfast to Dublin route faced significant disruption on Tuesday due to flooded tracks between Portadown and Newry.
Gardaí warned of flooding on the N1 motorway in Co Louth on Tuesday and also on the R173 in the nearby Carlingford area.
Environment Minister Eamon Ryan expressed concern for those caught up by the flooding.
“My heart goes out to those up in Cooley, Carlingford, down in Wexford I know there has been particular flooding, as well as Newry, as well as what happened to Middleton obviously a few weeks ago,” he told RTÉ Radio One.
Stormont’s Department for Infrastructure had warned of inevitable localised flooding in Northern Ireland.
“It may be necessary to close roads or put temporary restrictions in place,” the department said.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland had urged people against travelling during the period of the amber warning overnight.
Check out the Irish Examiner's WEATHER CENTRE for regularly updated short and long range forecasts wherever you are.
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