Glenelly Valley landslide: Farmers to be compensated over 2017 flooding

Landslides swept through the Glenelly Valley during a summer storm in August 2017

Farmers whose businesses were devastated by a massive landslide in County Tyrone four years ago are to be compensated.

Some £3.5m is to be made available following the 2017 flooding in the Glenelly Valley near Plumbridge.

Livestock was lost and land was covered in a thick layer of silt.

It happened when large areas of upland slid down the mountainside and travelled down the Glenelly River.

At the time some farmers said the extent of the damage meant they might never work again.

It is believed more than 200 farms, covering 1,000 hectares could be eligible for some support with a small number being particularly badly affected.

Landsides on the slopes of Glenelly left tonnes of slit and rock on the farmland below

Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots visited the area recently to hear directly from those affected.

Farms that made an application for annual subsidy payments under an "exceptional circumstances" clause that year are eligible to apply.

The scheme will open in the summer and payments are to be capped at a maximum of £106,000 per business.

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Mr Poots said he recognised the hardship endured by the farming and wider rural community as a result of the flooding.

"While this fund will not undo the emotional and mental challenges they have faced, I do hope it goes some way to easing the financial losses they have suffered," he said.

Farmers have been campaigning for support for years, but civil servants were unwilling to approve it in the period while Stormont was down, following the RHI scandal.