Flood affected residents 'need more help'

Published Wednesday, 04 July 2012
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One week after heavy rainfall flooded homes and businesses in east Belfast, those affected say not enough is being done to help them.

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The Robinson family moved out of their home in Orangefield, after waters forced their way up through the floors, destroying many of their belongings.

"It's actually really hard to describe how horrible and how soul-destroying - that's the right word soul-destroying - that this has been, not just me but for the kids," explained Amanda Robinson.

"The kids just don't even know whether they are coming or doing and explaining to the eldest one, who is four, that the majority of her toys are ruined and wrecked has been horrible. It's just watching your whole life being destroyed."

Nearby, Jonny Sloan and his young family have been given a £1,000 payout from Belfast City Council but they are struggling to find somewhere to live.

We've seen various politicians talking about it, but is anything going to be done?

Jonny Sloan

"Come Friday, we're going to be homeless, essentially, but I'm hoping something will become up before that.

"What happens in nine, 12 months, when we get back to the property? Is it going to flood again? That's a real risk. There's always a fear now, is it going to happen again?"

Despite the expense incurred and revenue lost in the clean-up of Jacqui Lowey's hair salon after it flooded, she has been told that businesses are not eligible for the grant.

Raw sewage flooded out of drains and into the hairdressers in just one hour, and Jacqui and said she and her staff have sanitised the salon and lifted the floors before reopening to customers.

"I phoned the helpline, the water board, at 7.30 in the morning, who said that they would be with us in four hours to help us to sanitise the place and they never came. We're still waiting."

On the Castlereagh Road, 87-year-old William McCall has dehumidifiers switched on for six hours a day in an attempt to dispel some of the damp in his home.

"I tried everything to keep the water out, but I couldn't. It was too fast and too high," he said.

Mr McCall has been told he will qualify for the council's hardship payment, but said he is frustrated that the flooding is not being stopped.

This has been going on for 26 years, since I've moved into this house. Nobody has been doing anything about it.

William McCall

"To me, the council is really responsible for what happened here," he told UTV.

The flooding is the fourth in the area since 2007 and the council feel they are getting better at coping with the emergency.

"Each time the flooding takes place the council's emergency plan seems to be a bit slicker," said Richard Harvey of Castlereagh Borough Council.

"You become more used to what you have to do and people understand their roles and what they have to do in order to assist the residents of the borough."

To date, the council say there have been 420 calls for help, and around 340 were requests for inspection.

Of those £230,000 has been paid out, while 70 were deemed ineligible for the cash.

The widespread flooding also caused temporary dip in the quality of Northern Ireland's bathing waters last week.

But samples taken a day later showed water quality was back to normal.

Environment Minister Alex Attwood said: "This incident was probably due to last week's unusually heavy rainfall which not only caused severe flooding in many areas but also polluting run off from land and discharges from storm drains and sewer overflows.

"However repeat samples collected on Friday 29 June were well within the prescribed limits and the pollution incident appears to have passed quickly."

© UTV News
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2 Comments
Phil in Belfast wrote (320 days ago):
The local council should take advantage of this situation and invest in gondolas . Newcastle could be the next Venice and generate more tourist revenue.We could even have tourists watching dolphins swimming up the main street. The possibilities are endless!!! Every cloud and all that!!
Jamesbelfast in Belfast wrote (320 days ago):
I'm sorry to inform William McCall but flooding in his area has been occuring for hundreds of years. This area is a well documented flood plain and long established elderly residents will tell you to expect flooding at least once in every 15 years. Sadly this problem has been exacerbated by local planners allowing construction of new developments over the past 15 years which has vastly decreased the flood plain capacity. If planners would only seek advice from historical records and long term local residents but then again they will probably take no notice.
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