Eglinton residents developing flood action plan

The community group's plans come after the village was badly hit during July's floods

A County Londonderry community badly affected by flooding is developing a plan to better protect the area should it happen again.

The village of Eglinton has been hit hard by floods on a number of occasions, most recently in late July.

Infrastructure Minister John O'Dowd said on Tuesday that he hopes to be able to progress plans for a flood alleviation scheme in the village.

But residents have said they also want to take measures into their own hands.

"What we are doing in Eglinton is coming together as a community and trying to take a bit of control back," Allan Bogle of the Eglinton Community Resilience Group told BBC Radio Foyle.

The village was among the hardest hits areas in the north west during the July floods

More than 100 people attended a public meeting held earlier in August and locals are currently completing a flood survey developed by the group.

The survey, which asks people to detail how they have been affected, will allow people to "create a community voice", Mr Bogle added.

He said it will also generate "ideas on what can be done to alleviate the problem and, most urgently, how do we react in an emergency situation".

Infrastructure Minister John O'Dowd met with some Eglinton residents following last month's floods

Mr O'Dowd was forced to defend his department's response to the July flooding during a visit to Eglinton in July.

Following severe flooding in 2017, a flood alleviation scheme, to help prevent future flooding, was announced.

A total of 127 homes were flooded in the village back in 2017

A feasibility study was undertaken but there has been some frustration in the local community that it has not progressed further.

A total of 127 homes flooded at that time.

On Tuesday, during a visit to Strabane - where work on a flood protection scheme is under way - Mr O'Dowd said his department is "taking forward, where possible, a number of flood alleviation proposals in various locations across the north", including in Eglinton.

Mr Bogle said the community had come to a realisation that they "need to take measures into their own hands".

"I think after the floods last month we realised this is not a once-a-100-year flood, it is something that is going to happen time and time again," he said.

Local people were among the first to respond during July's floods in the village

He added: "We as a community are going to be first responders, the first on the ground, and how do we reduce the amount of damage to property and the risk to life in the village."

The community response, he said, was to work in tandem with that of government agencies.

"What we hope to do from the survey is gather this information and analyse the result.

"Then it is the time to go to various agencies and say this is what we have found out on the ground and this is what we think can be done to alleviate the problems in the future".