Flash flooding affects roads in Belfast

Milltown Road in south Belfast

A number of roads in parts of Belfast were affected by flash flooding following heavy rain on Friday.

Police said the Laganbank Road in the city centre was "not passable" and the Lisburn Road, Boucher Road and Botanic Avenue were also impacted.

Drivers are encouraged to drive slowly, increase their stopping distance and be aware of potential hazards.

The Department for Infrastructure (DFI) said it deployed resources to tackle the flooding earlier on Friday and will continue to "keep the network safe".

A number of Translink services have been cancelled or diverted.

Bangor station was closed due to flooding but has since reopened.

In Belfast, Translink's Metro 6C & 6D services were being diverted on the Milltown city-bound route as the A55 Milltown Road was flooded at its junction with the Belvoir Road but normal operations have been restored.

Some Shankill Road bus services were also diverted due to flooding.

Updates can be found on the Translink X (formerly Twitter) page.

Botanic Avenue and Ormeau Road have also since been cleared.

Botanic Avenue in south Belfast

Ormeau Road in south Belfast

Belfast City Cllr Paul Doherty said people in west Belfast were "stranded in their homes" and the flooding was causing "serious risk to residents".

Doherty said the flooding was not just caused by heavy rain but "long-term neglect in parts of our drainage network".

Cllr Séamas de Faoite said the council's street cleansing teams had been out to help, and staff from local businesses "mucked in to prevent flooding".

"Ultimately though we need to see rapid action from the Infrastructure Department to make sure drains are cleared quickly so this doesn't happen again."

A DFI spokesperson said in most cases, flooding occurred due to the intensity of the rainfall, combined with the fallen leaves which restricted access to gullies at some locations.

"Street sweeping, including the clearing of leaves, falls under council's responsibility as part of their remit for the collection of waste and removal of litter," the spokesperson said.

They added that the DFI aims to inspect and clean gullies once annually and also provides further ad-hoc cleaning, within available budgets, to address any specific localised issues or deal with severe weather events.