Picking up the pieces after homes flood

By Freya McClements BBC News

Brian McConnell hoses down the path outside his house in Newtownstewart

The floodwaters have subsided, but the cleanup operation is only beginning in Newtownstewart.

Heavy rain on Sunday caused a small river to burst its banks, flooding a number of houses in Mill Street.

Today, thick mud coats the paths and gardens, while tidemarks on the doors and walls give some indication of the extend of the devastation within.

Many residents, like Patricia O'Goan and her 12-year-old son Brandon, have been forced to find temporary accommodation.

"Everything has been destroyed, the floors, furniture, everything.

"We've no electricity, nothing is working, and the whole kitchen will have to be refitted.

"The garden is a disgrace, and all his toys, his bicycle and his trampoline, everything ruined.

The water in Patricia O'Goan's house was over a foot high

"We knew it had been raining heavily, and I thought I would go and move the car which was parked across the road.

"All of a sudden it started floating, and that was when I realised how bad it was.

"My son was at his friend's house up the street, and they saw it - his friend said to him, 'There's your Mum's car floating up the street'."

Patricia and Brandon have been given temporary accommodation, but she believes it will be at least two months before they can move back home.

She said more could have been done to protect her home.

"This place is liable to flooding, and a lot of work was done seven years ago to protect these houses.

"It has flooded since then, but the Rivers Agency have always been there.

"This time it was out of control, they just weren't here.

"Yesterday the house and car were perfect, and now they're ruined.

"Someone made an error somewhere," she said.

A few doors up, 86-year-old George Murphy is also facing an uncertain future.

Brothers Peter and Tom McGuigan start the cleanup operation

He has to live on the ground floor of his house because he is disabled, but the damage is so bad he may have to move out.

"I heard this splash coming in the front door, and then it joined up with water coming in the back door.

"My home help had to lift all the carpets when she came this morning.

"It was nobody's fault, just an act of God, but with God's help I'll be able to stay here," he said.

Across the street, Tom McGuigan is helping to sweep out his house for his brother Peter.

Peter refused to leave the house overnight despite the flood, and now his brother is working hard to try and make it habitable for Monday night.

"The water was over a foot high, and it's completely destroyed the house.

"There's mud everywhere, and the floors will have to be lifted.

"The electricity isn't working, nor the heating.

"I don't know what he's going to do, but we'll just have to try and clean it up as best we can," he said.

Blocked grill

David Porter from the Rivers Agency said the flooding was caused when a grill became blocked by pallets, whin bushes, and other material.

"We had a lot of men on standby, and there was a squad in the area which was able to get to the site and assess what needed done.

"The difficulty that arose was that there was a lot of material in the grill, which the men couldn't physically remove without the aid of a digger.

"That had to be mobilised from Omagh, so that might have been perceived as a long response time but there were men on the site very quickly to assess the problem," he said.

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