'Neighbours acted quickly to protect homes', as flooding clean-up continues

Residents on a County Down street worked quickly to protect their homes after two days of heavy rainfall meant a "full force scale river" flowed down it.

Road workers and residents are continuing the clean-up after flooding swept large stones and debris onto some residential streets.

In Tullybrannigan Road in Newcastle residents were trapped in their homes after streams of water covered the road and water rose throughout Sunday.

Local people and politicians are urging agencies to find "a permanent solution" and are calling for an investigation.

Diggers continue to clear up the debris and flood water on residential streets in Newcastle

Debbie Biggerstaff said neighbours were quick to act and worked together to protect homes.

"We gathered together, with wheelbarrows and picked up debris and helped to protect neighbours... all the neighbours pulled together."

Ms Biggerstaff said an investigation is needed.

"Our road is ruined, completely... we don't want it to happen again.

"I want it investigated, I think a lot of people were lucky yesterday."

Stones and gravel had washed down from the Mourne Mountains, making some roads in the area almost impassable for vehicles

First Minister Michelle O'Neill said the scenes were "devastating" and commended responders that helped communities.

O'Neill added that the executive will have to discuss how it can "best support" those impacted but "for now all the effort and energy is being placed in the immediate response".

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MLA Diane Forsythe said "we need an urgent investigation as to why this has happened here" while Sinn Féin MLA Cathy Mason said "everything needs to be looked into".

A yellow weather warning for rain in counties Antrim, Armagh, and Down had been extended until 15:00 BST on Sunday and widened to include parts of counties Londonderry and Tyrone.

The road at the centre of the floodng in Newcastle is being cleared up

'My garden was like a swimming pool'

Liz McLaughlin, another local resident has lived in Newcastle for more than 40 years and has "never seen anything like" the flooding on Sunday.

"It came out of the forest like a torrent... my walls were like a waterfall and my garden was like a swimming pool.

"The stones that passed here were quite big, they were just ripping up the road, big chunks of tarmac."

She said she was concerned for the welfare of her neighbours, but said all agencies responded quickly "thankfully".

Liz has lived in Newcastle for more than 40 years and she's never seen flooding like this before

The DfI told BBC News NI that more than 1,200 sandbags were deployed in the Newcastle area and roads service staff have been removing large stones and debris from affected roads.

The department said it is working to determine the cause of the flooding but "preliminary findings" suggest the source as being surface water run-off from the Mourne Mountains due to the heavy rain.

DfI added that the Shimna River Flood Alleviation Scheme "did not displace floodwater into the catchment of the Tullybrannigan River" and added that the scheme is in a "different river catchment to the flooding which occurred".

Flooding on the Tullybrannigan Road in Newcastle, County Down

Sam Anderson, from Newcastle Regional Community Resilience Group, said temporary solutions are not the answer.

Mr Anderson said temporary solutions have been put in place in recent years as parts of Newcastle have been hit hard by flooding.

Speaking on BBC's Good Morning Ulster he said a temporary pump was used over the weekend that "probably saved homes" but added that it is a temporary solution.

"As residents we want permanent solutions."

A road in Newcastle has been damaged after severe flooding on Sunday

He said some issues like drains being blocked have been raised in the past with agencies, but that "it falls on deaf ears".

"That's maintenance of the rivers, maintenance of the gullies, maintenance of the flaps that protect flood water getting in and out of the Burren river, and in actual fact NI Water said they don't have the resources to go and properly check all the flaps on the rivers.

"We want to see some action… what's the point in us spending time talking to people? We want action... to help get the problem solved."

Diane Forsythe said people are "grateful that no-one was hurt" but questioned how the scale of flooding could have happened.

"The amount of debris also that has fallen is quite frightening, we can see from the clean up the diggers are out today it's absolutely terrifying.

"We need an urgent investigation as to why this has happened here."

She said this was a yellow weather warning not an amber one, "a short time of heavy rainfall, so this is concerning".

Asked about the flood alleviation scheme put in place, she questioned whether it was saving one area but causing problems for other areas.

"Has it made things better or has it moved everything to a different part of Newcastle? There has to be some solution we can find here."

Mr Anderson echoed those concerns.

"I think the flooding is moving around... the flood in 2023 didn't come across the Shimna River and then across the road," he told BBC News NI.

"Where it came from was the Burren river and the Tullybrannigan one is completely different again.

"We don't know as yet why that flooding in those torrents of water came in – that was unexpected."

Sinn Féin MLA Cathy Mason said: "It's very clear it was just staggering... we've never seen images like this before and it's unfortunate we can see events like this becoming more regular.

"It's clearly having a negative effect on I suppose the mental health of these households. We can't have that, we can't have people living in fear."

Various agencies evacuated people from their homes in the Newcastle area in 2020 due to heavy flooding

In 2020 Newcastle was hit by major flooding after Storm Francis hit parts of Northern Ireland.

Elderly residents were evacuated from the Shimna Road and the Bryansford Road after the Shimna river burst its banks.

As a result a flood alleviation scheme was introduced called "Shimna River Scheme".

The scheme construction began in 2021, with the aim to protect more than 300 properties through a list of flood defence systems including walls, embankments and secant piling, which is a construction of continuous inter-locking walls to reinforced concrete.

Anyone impacted by floods can contact the Flood Incident Line 0300 2000 100 to request sandbags.